Thy Art Is Murder’s CJ McMahon Offers a Weak Apology Over Anti-Trans Comments
Days after saying he was going to quit social media after people called him out over some gross anti-trans comments he posted online, Thy Art Is Murder vocalist CJ McMahon returned to make a weak-ass attempt at an apology. The move comes roughly two days after his bandmates offered an equally milquetoast statement in a bid to separate themselves from the vocalist’s verbal diarrhea.
McMahon’s post featured an apology video where he said his “intentions weren’t to be transphobic in any way, shape or form.” Which is a pretty funny thing to say when you calmly stated that a woman “should be burned to death” for supporting their child’s indication that they were both genders.
“Hey guys, CJ here, just wanted to make this video to apologize to everybody that’s been upset and offended by the video that I shared and commented horribly on Instagram a few days ago. My intentions weren’t to be transphobic in any way, shape or form. And now it’s gotten to the point that it really doesn’t matter what my intentions were.
“I apologize to the LGBTQ+ community and their allies and the people that support them. And I thought I did support them, but obviously my video that I shared and commented horribly on has proved otherwise. To my friends that I have that are trans, please don’t take this as me being transphobic. My intentions were very different to be anything other than that.
“And I apologize to my band that aren’t standing with me and I don’t blame them, so yeah, I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry.”
For those that don’t remember or don’t want to read the original post, McMahon landed in hot water after he reposted some anti-trans content originally posted by far-right provocateur Matt Walsh. In it, a woman is asking her toddler if she’s a boy of a girl, to which the child says “both.” The mother then accepts that answer and says “okay, you’re both.”
In response to that video, McMahon made the aforementioned uncalled for remark that the woman should be killed by being set on fire.
Along with the video, McMahon posted a caption that said he recognized “the hurtful impact my words had on the community,” that he was “deeply sorry,” and that he was “learning from my mistakes and committed to better understanding, respecting, and supporting every individual.”
If that’s actually what comes out of this, then good. Everyone can change and grow from a mistake like this, but let’s also keep something straight: McMahon just turned 40 this year — he’s a grown ass man. Something tells me this is more about him trying to get out in front of the backlash, since the band has a new album coming out next month.
I don’t care if he was kidding or not, that kind of comment can help embolden some particularly fucked up individual to act that sort of thing out. I’d imagine there were some trans fans of Thy Art Is Murder — not sure how many of those exist now — and that sort of thing could result in violence happening to them or anyone else that identifies as such.
Listen, I’m sick of writing about this just as much as you people are probably sick of reading about it. I’d rather write about cooler shit happening in the metal world and dunking on Vince Neil, but this sort of shit can’t be accepted in the metal community. Though the more comments I read from mouth-breathing troglodytes that actually support anti-trans bullshit, the less I believe we’re an inclusive community…
