Cynic’s Paul Masvidal Comments on Sean Reinert’s Rejected Organ Donation
As if the abrupt loss of Sean Reinert earlier this year wasn’t already painful enough, a lot of us were taken aback to learn that the beloved drummer’s status as an organ donor was rejected… for no better reason than the fact that he was gay and sexually active. Although this guideline was set by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services for organ transplantation in 2013, it sounds like the kind of medieval thinking that would have been put into effect decades ago, when much of the public perception regarding homosexuals was considerably (if unfairly) more conservative.
Unsurprisingly, in a new interview with Billboard, Paul Masvidal, Reinert’s former bandmate from both Cynic and Death, echoes this very sentiment:
“I’m an organ donor and a gay man, so I guess I should remove my organ donation from my driver’s license. This sounds like an ’80s Reagan bill or some nonsense. I had no idea, and I hope that in light of this, that it’ll help bring attention to how absurd that is… It really is a form of prejudice and homophobia in law.”
I think a lot of us, if not most of us, really had no idea about this regulation, and if Reinert’s death does help call attention to the ridiculousness of the law, that would, indeed, bring some meaning to what mostly just feels like the tragic loss of a great musician long before his time.
Elswhere in the same interview, Masvidal talks more about the loss of Reinert and the legacy the drummer leaves behind:
“This is the first significant loss in my life, in that I lost a peer, a best friend and someone I grew up with my whole life. I lived with him, toured with him, and we were basically inseparable for 33 years. I spent more time with him than my own blood brother. It’s been really challenging for me.”
After adding that “my personality was forged with Sean. We found our identities together as kids,” Masvidal continues:
“We’re at the tip of the iceberg of people realizing what a monster he was as a musician and the influence he left behind. I would love to see that expand as well, in terms of Sean’s legacy becoming something historic and there be some kind of preservation of what he did as an artist and what he offered the world. He really was unique and a beast of a player, and there’s not going to be another guy like him.”
Eloquently put, as always.
You can read the entire interview with Masvidal here. Meanwhile, Vessel, the final installment of his of EP trilogy Mythical Human Vessel, was released this past Friday, March 6 on Masvidalien Records. You can stream it below and purchase it here.
