Chester Bennington’s oldest son Jaime shared a furious tirade against his late father's newly reformed band Linkin Park.
Last week, Linkin Park returned to the stage, but not as we knew it. The original band members were joined by a new female vocalist Emily Armstrong and Drummer Colin Brittain.
Jaime has since shared a hefty series of messages on Instagram, expressing his disappointment in the band, but more specifically Mike Shinoda.
“People aren’t having a difficult time wrapping their heads around the prospect of Linkin Park reinventing itself,” Jaime began. "They are having a hard time wrapping their head around how you hired your friend of many years, Emily Armstrong, to replace Chester."
Emily has a known history with the highly controversial Church of Scientology and was involved with a group of Scientologists in 2020 who openly backed ‘That ‘70s Show’ actor Danny Masterson, who was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison on convictions of rape.
Shortly after Linkin Park's return, Emily released a statement saying she “misjudged” Danny and “shouldn’t have” shown him support.
“To say it as clearly as possible: I do not condone abuse or violence against women, and I empathize with the victims of these crimes.”
But Jaime wasn't done. He also accused Mike of “quietly erasing [his] father’s life and legacy". Oosh.
“You have betrayed the trust loaned to you by decades of fans and supporting human beings including myself,” Jaime wrote.
“We trusted you to be the bigger better person. To be the change. Because you promised us that was your intention,” he added. “Now you’re just senile and tone deaf. Insane.”
At this point, I would wager that all you LP guys know is disrespect. You didn’t trick me!!
Jaime also revealed that he had fallen out with Mike’s wife, Anna, and accused him of lying about when Linkin Park started working on their new album, 'From Zero'.
He thinks it could have been in the works much closer to his father’s death than fans have been led to believe.
We are yet to see or hear a response from Mike Shinoda, but in the meantime, Jaime has dedicated his Instagram account to talking about Linkin Park’s return.
