Black Veil Brides frontman Andy Biersack has addressed the backlash he has received on social media from fans who are unhappy about the band touring with Falling in Reverse.
“We have and will continue to tour with a lot of different artists,” the frontman wrote on X. “I’ll say this though even though it likely won’t land because I imagine you have a presupposition here but thus far we have been treated with a level of kindness and enthusiasm on this tour that we aren’t accustomed to, in fact for 3 legs of ‘Trinity’ [their tour with Motionless In White and Ice Nine Kills] we were fairly universally loathed by the other bands fans either passively or in many cases overtly whereas last night the people in attendance who maybe didn’t know much about BVB gave us a chance and seemed to want to really have fun at a show rather than lean on the scene oriented ‘BVB sucks’ take.”
Biersack praised Radke and continued: “Ronnie Radke went out of his way to show kindness to us which is again something that is uncommon for us to experience on non headlining runs historically. You needn’t come to a show if it’s not for you and that’s entirely at your discretion but to attempt to grand stand on moral grounds to me who is a member of a band once called ‘the most hated band in the universe’ as if anything I believe changes by virtue of us being afforded the opportunity to play our music for more people who seem to actually enjoy it and hopefully share our message and entertain them is an extremely myopic and in my opinion unfair position to take.”
Biersack received mixed reactions to his statement. A person mentioned the groups Radke ‘targeted’ online: “I’m so glad he’s treated you with respect and love, but what about the minority groups he has continued to target online? a lot of which are within your fanbase. the issue isn’t with how he treats you, but how he continues to treat minority groups.”
“I’ve seen you twice and loved both shows but as a transgender fan, ‘you needn’t come to a show if that’s not for you’??? That feels like ‘you don’t feel welcome? Then you aren’t!’,” another added.
Radke has been a controversial figure in rock recently. His comments have drawn criticism from fans and others on social media and even caused him to get banned on social media platforms. This controversy has affected bands that have toured with Falling in Reverse. Spiritbox dropped out of six shows with the band in 2023 after fans raised concerns. Radke responded, saying he felt sorry for Spiritbox and praised their members.
We have and will continue to tour with alot of different artists. I’ll say this though even though it likely won’t land because I imagine you have a presupposition here but thus far we have been treated with a level of kindness and enthusiasm on this tour that we aren’t…
— Andy Biersack (@andyblack) August 19, 2024
i’m so glad he’s treated you with respect and love, but what about the minority groups he has continued to target online? a lot of which are within your fanbase.
the issue isn’t with how he treats you, but how he continues to treat minority groups.— saryna ❤️🩹🪓 (@ex__m0rtis) August 20, 2024
I’ve seen you twice and loved both shows but as a transgender fan, “you needn’t come to a show if that’s not for you” ??? That feels like “you don’t feel welcome? Then you aren’t!”
— Jasper (@Jasper_killjoy) August 20, 2024