Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry used part of her time onstage Saturday at Fortress Festival to respond to the attacks the band had received on Instagram from singer Chris Brown.
Chvrches recently recorded the song “Here With Me” with producer (and guy-who-wears-a-marshmallow-on-his-head) Marshmello, and reacted when they caught wind of his new collaborators.
Chvrches shared a post on Instagram stating “We are really upset, confused and disappointed by Marshmello's choice to work with Tyga and Chris Brown. We Like and respect Mello as a person but working with people who are predators and abusers enables, excuses and ultimately tacitly endorses that behaviour. That is not something we can or will stand behind.”
Brown responded on Instagram, stating, “BUNCH OF LOSERS. these are the type of people I wish walked in front of a speeding bus full of mental patients. Keep groveling over you own insecurities and hatred. IM BLACK AND PROUD. AND I KNOW ITS HURTS THAT U GUYS ARE STRUGGLING WIT LIFE OR PEACE SO U ARE FORCED TO SEE MY SUCCESS. You aren’t even #2 (REMEMBER 2nd place only means YOU LOST FIRST! TA-TA. GOODDAY PEASANTS.”
Since then, the band is said to have received death threats from some of Brown’s fans, and they have even had to turn over their passwords on social media as part of their protection.
Mayberry took to the Fort Worth stage Saturday night saying, “Chvrches is a band, Chvrches is a business, Chvrches is a brand that people can buy into, and it has to be honest and it has to be authentic. And we would be really hypocritical if we worked with somebody and didn’t say anything about what they did.
“When we give money from our headline shows to Girl Scout camps, when I am a patron of Rape Crisis Scotland, you can’t do that. It’s morally incorrect.“We were like, maybe don’t promote serial convicted violence to kids, and they were like, well, you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to rape you and shoot you.”- Lauren Mayberry
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“We weren’t just deciding to pick on Chris Brown for the sake of it. I was just like, I don’t know, I think domestic abuse might be wrong, and now I’m going to have to invest in some fucking bulletproof tutus,” Mayberry said only half-jokingly, “because that apparently does not go down well with the Breezy fans.”
Mayberry ultimately thanked Brown and his fans for their reaction to the band’s statement because it so clearly showed them for the kind of people they are.
“We were like, maybe don’t promote serial convicted violence to kids… to young people. And they were like, well, you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to rape you and shoot you. And I was like, oh, you kinda proved the point though. So, in a way, I’m like, thanks.”
After playfully complaining a bit about all the stuff she will miss out on on social media, Mayberry concluded that it is one thing for people to go out in public and say things like “#TimesUp,” but the truth of the matter is that “Time needs to be fucking up.”
