Pennsylvania Hardcore Frontwoman Makes Thousands Pretending She Has Cancer
Ever heard of Erie, PA hardcore band Counterfeit or their frontwoman Hali Etie? We hadn’t until this morning, but you bet your ass we won’t forget them now.
Apparently, for the past few months, Etie has been claiming to have Stage 3 cervical cancer, and has been using a GoFundMe campaign to raise $3000 dollars to help fund her treatment. She’s also been the subject of multiple tribute shows, customized T-shirts, et cetera.
Only problem? Etie apparently doesn’t have cancer. Yeah, fuck this chick.
Hardcore Cares, an organization usually focused on helping animals, originally rallied around Etie. However, since the singer’s fraud has come to light, they have released the following statement:
Concerning the Hali Etie fraud case. Hali Etie front woman for Erie, Pa Band Counterfeit. Hardcore Cares as well as many others was caught up in the fraudulent claims that Hali was suffering through (Stage3 / Type B / Cervical Cancer).. Hali & Counterfeit have been a mainstay with HCC from early on. We had no reason not to believe the claims were in fact true. Even after a private message from a concerned individual that he claims were false we backed her & supported her. Hardcore Cares started backing her claims of Cancer on July 15th 2015. We did put together a benefit show for her, customized Tshirts & shared the gofundme.com link religiously. about a week prior to the benefit show we started to see cracks in the story. Things just were not adding up. But she still had the support of key people close to her , so based on that & her presence in HCC we motored on. It was after seeing a post on Sunday 9/6/2015 that all the facts came together & her story crumbled. All the gut instincts & cracks were true. We at Hardcore Cares were devastated. Here is a woman we had great respect for on a musical & personal level that had used us like so many others throughout this escapade. We absolutely send out our sincerest thanks to all that donated their time at Hali’s benefit ” Throwdown In Motown” on 8/15/2015. Corktown Tavern donated the venue, Leslie made from scratch cupcakes to sell, volunteers to BBQ, 5 bands CST, Death In Custody, Consumed With Hatred, Never Submit & The Family. The outstanding staff at Corktown Tavern that always supports HCC & had an even deeper love for this event.
In closing:
Hardcore Cares will not seek any legal action against Hali Etie. We will not spend anymore time, energy, or resource on this matter. We still have a great amount of respect for the 3 other members of Counterfeit. Let it be known that the existing members are in NO WAY a part of the fraud. Our heart & respect go out to all that gave, donated *& backed Hali in her time of need. This will not be the straw that breaks the Camels back for HCC. We will continue our mission, we will continue to grow & we will continue to give when & where we can.
Real talk, I have multiple cancer survivors and victims in my family. Shit like this spits on their struggles and their memories. I wish this woman would be forced to go through chemotherapy just to feel how horrible it is. Hell, I wish I could force-feed her a malignant tumor and watch her choke on it.
Anyway, Counterfeit (poor choice of a name) has apparently broken up, which makes sense considering this is a hard thing to come back from, but apparently someone on Lambgoat has commented that the rest of the band considers their former frontwoman a shit sandwich. Etie hasn’t spoken up herself, but given how shitty this situation has gotten across the board, I wouldn’t expect her to.
[via Metal Insider]
