M. Shadows Defends Ronnie Radke: “We Do Believe in Someone Being Able to Speak Their Mind”

Two weeks ago, Spiritbox dropped off of a just-announced tour with Falling In Reverse. The announcement upset a large number of Spiritbox fans, who cited frontman Ronnie Radke‘s numerous past issues as a reason that they did not want to see the band tour with Falling In Reverse. Radke then proved Spiritbox and their fans right when he responded that their fans were “assholes.”

Though Radke is perfectly capable of fighting with everyone around him on his own, he found a new ally in Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows, who discussed the band’s decision to invite the band to perform alongside them and Pussy Riot at two shows.

First, Shadows said that be believes Radke has the right to an opinion, even if that opinion makes him an asshole (via Lambgoat):

“The thing with Ronnie is… the guy is allowed to have an opinion. And his opinion ruffles feathers and then he digs his heels in and goes hard on some of these people that are attacking him. I’ve looked at all of his accusations. There’s been no proof on these things. He did time for the one thing he did do. And it’s almost like this society where you can’t come back out and have any sort of career or anything happen, because you don’t like that this guy is a firecracker and he’s gonna and he’s gonna hit back at you.”

And then he tells listeners straight up that he doesn’t care if you come in time to see Falling in Reverse or even buy tickets for the tour if you don’t agree.

“We put Ronnie on these shows, we have more shows we’re going to do with him. If you don’t like him, don’t show up – or show up later. But we’re keeping them on the shows. And he can be his own person, and we’ll be our own people. Even though we might not agree on everything, we do believe in someone being able to speak their mind.”

Avenged Sevenfold have a new album, Life Is But A Dream… coming on June 2 and are scheduled to perform with Falling in Reverse later that month.