Eagles of Death Metal’s Jesse Hughes Apologizes for Comments About #NeverAgain Teens
Jesse Hughes, Eagles of Death Metal frontman and survivor of the 2015 Paris terrorist attack, has issued an apology for a comments he made earlier this week, during which he criticized the high school students leading the #NeverAgain movement for “[taking] multiple days off of school [and] playing hooky at the expense of 16 of your classmates blood” and called their efforts to prevent future mass shootings in America “pathetic and disgusting.”
In new a video posted on Instagram (below), Hughes does a complete one-eighty on his previous comments (transcript via The PRP):
“Recently I made some posts on my Instagram that did not communicate how I feel about a variety of topics.
“What I had intended to be a statement about the hijacking by any side of the aisle of the beautiful agenda of a movement our nation’s youth came off like a mean-spirited, personal attack and slight of the youth themselves and even a personal attack of its leadership.
“I wanna be clear, I never intended for that to happen. I was not attempting to impugn the youth of America and this beautiful thing they’ve accomplished. I truly am sorry. I did not mean to hurt anyone or cause any harm. As someone who’s watched their friends shot in front of their eyes and seen people killed that they love, I should have handled this a lot more maturely and responsibly, and I did not do that and I messed up.
“And I hope that you’re able to forgive, me but please know that I did not mean to do what it seems like it was I was doing.”
Wow. It’s a long way from “The Whitney Houston song about letting the children lead the way wasn’t actually an operating paradigm for life” and accusing kids of using the deaths of their friends as an excuse to miss school to praising #NeverAgain for its “beautiful agenda”… especially given that his comments about Parkland were not the first time he’s insisted stronger gun control laws would not help prevent mass shootings. Hopefully his sudden change of heart is sincere and not just a response to the backlash caused by his original comment.
