Suicide Silence Song Removed from Video Game Promo Because of Sexual Misconduct Allegation Against Eddie Hermida

September 20th, 2018 at 4:35pm
Axl Rosenberg

Its release is still more than five months away, but Devil May Cry 5 is already one of 2019’s most anticipated video games. So you can be sure that it was a major coup for Suicide Silence to have a new song prominently featured in the game — specifically, a track called “Subhuman,” co-written with the DMC5‘s composer, Cody Matthew Johnson, and intended to be the battle theme for the game’s protagonist, Dante.

But now the company behind the game, Capcom, are distancing themselves from Suicide Silence and the song as a result of last year’s sexual misconduct allegation against frontman Eddie Hermida (also of All Shall Perish fame). The PRP reports that Capcom debuted the song and video yesterday at the Tokyo Game Show (which, just to be clear, is really an expo, like a “show of games,” not a a televised contest “game show”), but have since pulled the video and issued the following statement:

“The music was recorded for the game before the incident [involving Hermida] came to light and we were unaware of the incident until now. However, as we are now aware of the current situation, Capcom has decided that moving forward, we will not further highlight the Dante battle theme for promotional purposes at this time. We are also currently evaluating what options are possible for the full game at this point, which is dependent on various factors such as resources.”

I don’t know nearly enough about video game production to know if it’s feasible to remove the song altogether at this point, but it certainly sounds like Capcom is exploring the possibility.

Hermida, you may recall, was accused by a young Belgian woman, Verena Celis, of “emotionally and sexually manipulating” her when he was thirty-two and she was seventeen. Shortly after the allegations surfaced, Hermida issued the below apology, which, to his credit, was probably the best imaginable response to the accusation:

“I apologize, first and foremost, to Verena, that she feels hurt, manipulated, and otherwise distressed by any of our past communication. I want to apologize to the people who support my work as a musician (both the fans and behind the scenes) for the discomfort, distrust, and damage these allegations have caused.
“Most importantly, I would ask the music community to abstain from ridiculing, ostracizing, or otherwise harassing this young woman. It’s difficult enough for women to come forward with allegations about the behavior of men under any circumstances.

“When Verena told me she’d turned 18, I believed her. I made it clear that our conversations should not be of a sexual nature until that time. However I have learned the lesson, the hard way, that it was wrong to engage in any kind of intimate conversations with someone so much younger than me.
“I was raised by a single mom who taught me to be respectful to all women. I am ashamed that I have failed. I hope to earn the respect and approval of our fans and to prove that I am not the person this would seem to suggest.
“Now more than ever, the responsibility falls on men to be mindful of our words and actions with people, and to listen to the voices of those who come forward, with respect and dignity.
“I am here and I am listening.

“- Eddie Hermida”