Linkin Park’s new singer faces allegations of ties to Scientology and Danny Masterson – National
Linkin Park announced that a new singer and drummer have joined the band as they prepare to release their first new album in more than seven years since the frontman’s passing. Chester Bennington.
Singer Emily Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain took to the stage with bandmates Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Phoenix and Joe Hahn in a livestreamed concert Thursday to introduce the new lineup. The band played hits from their discography and debuted their new single The vacuum machineexcerpt from the next album From scratch.
A world tour has been announced to support the album’s release, scheduled for November 15. The band will perform six shows in Los Angeles, New York, Hamburg, London, Seoul and Bogota, before the album’s public release.
Critics and fans alike were impressed with Armstrong’s vocal talents during Thursday’s show, praising his ability to “Let us recall Bennington without trying to parody,” as AP music reporter Maria Sherman put it.
Armstrong’s Instagram Page was flooded with comments from excited Linkin Park fans welcoming her to the band. Former Dead singer Sara will be co-lead vocalist for Linkin Park alongside Shinoda.
Mike Shinoda (L) and Emily Armstrong (R) perform alongside the rest of Linkin Park during a global live broadcast at Warner Bros. Studios on September 5, 2024 in Burbank, California.
Timothy Norris/Getty Images for Warner Music
But for some fans, the excitement quickly died down after allegations resurfaced that Armstrong was supporting This 70s show actor and convicted rapist Danny Masterson at his trial.
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The accusations come from fellow musician Cedric Bixler-Zavala, who claims Armstrong intimidated Masterson’s victims during a preliminary hearing. Masterson is a prominent member of the Church of Scientology, and Bixler-Zavala claims Armstrong is also a prominent Scientologist.
“Do your fans know your friend Danny Masterson? Your rapist friend,” Bixler-Zavala wrote last year in a comment on Dead Sara’s Instagram page.
“Remember how your Scientology squad surrounded a stranger as she tried to leave the elevators? The sheriffs of the court had to escort her out of your horrible cult.”
Bixler-Zavala shared a screenshot of this comment on his Instagram Story after it was announced that Armstrong was joining Linkin Park, Rolling Stone reportsalthough the story has since been deleted.
Bixler-Zavala is a former member of the Church of Scientology and a Getty Images photo is circulating showing him and Armstrong together at a Scientology event in 2013.
In this photo provided by the Church of Scientology, Emily Armstrong (L) and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (R) attend the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre 44th Anniversary Gala on August 24, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.
Ava Clithero/CoS via Getty Images
There do not appear to be any photos of Armstrong at Masterson’s trials, but journalist Tony Ortega reported in 2020 that Armstrong showed up for arraignment with Masterson as part of a large entourage of “long-time friends”.
Bixler-Zavala’s wife, Chrissie Carnell-Bixler, is also a former Scientologist and was one of the women who accused Masterson of sexual assault. Masterson was convicted of raping two Jane Doeswomen whose names have not been made public, although he has never been convicted of charges related to the Carnell-Bixler allegations, Rolling Stone reports.
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