Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes has posted a new Instagram video reacting to the backlash he has received from liberal celebrities and fans since his comments where he unloaded on the March For Our Lives gun control march which featured speeches by survivors of a recent shooting at a Florida high school. Hughes himself survived a terrorist shooting at the Bataclan in Paris in November 2015.
Hughes said a week or so ago, “May everyone of these disgusting vile abusers of the dead live as long as possible so they can have the maximum amount of time to endure their shame,” he said in part, “and be Cursed.”
Former Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age singer Mark Lanegan then tweeted Hughes, “@jesseEODM. When I think of the good times we’ve had in the past it fucks my heart to see how far off the rails you’ve gone. Come back bro.”
Hughes said (via Consequence of Sound) he he intended to make a statement “about the hijacking by any side of the aisle of the beautiful agenda of a movement of our nation’s youth,” but it “came off seeming like a mean-spirited and personal attack and slight of the youth themselves.”
“I wanna be clear, I never intended for that to happen,” Hughes added in a message directed to critics like Lanegan. “I was not attempting to impugn the youth of America and this beautiful thing that they accomplished. I truly am sorry, I did not mean to hurt anyone or cause any harm.”
“As someone who’s watched their friends shot in front of their eyes and seen people killed that they love, I should have handled this a lot more maturely and responsibly, and I did not do that and I messed up,” he said to close the apology. “And I hope that you’re able to forgive me but please know that I did not mean to do what it seems like it was I was doing.”
Hughes’ initial pro second amendment comments received praise from conservative fans and media outlets, while he was ostracized by the largely liberal and pro-gun control music and entertainment industry.