Ethel Cain apologises for past ‘racist language’ amid ‘smear campaign’

Ethel Cain has issued an apology after several old posts, including one which she admits contained “racist language”, resurfaced, but the transgender singer is also “pursuing legal recourse” in the face of what she has called a massive smear campaign against her.

Cain, whose real name is Hayden Anhedönia, took to social media on Wednesday (9 July) to post a lengthy apology after historical comments from here past were reposted by anonymous accounts, including Cain admitting using the n word.

The screenshots show Cain saying “build that wall, in response to a post mocking Latinx people, wearing a t-shirt that read “legalise incest”, and ridiculing people who use pronouns other than he, or they.

Most of the reposts are from Q and A website Curious Cat and were posted by X/Twitter account @herweirdsilas.

In response, Cain, whose second studio album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, is due to be released next month as the follow-up to Preacher’s Daughter (and not-album Perverts), issued a statement in which she said she made the comments to be controversial.

What did Ethel Cain say in her statement?

Trigger warning: The topics of sexual assault, suicide, incest and bestiality are mentioned below.

“I want to address the Twitter/curious cat screenshots,” she began. “That was my account and they were my words. I was 19 and I was entirely aware of what I was saying and that was why I said it.”

While she spent her “later high-school years being extremely progressive”, as a way to “reject the indoctrination of my environment and rebel against the prejudice, hatred and ignorance”, she “fell into a subculture online that prioritised garnering attention at all costs”, the Florida-born singer went on to say.

“I flip-flopped again, rejecting all notions of my former “cringe SJW [social justice warrior]” behaviour and intended to be as inflammatory and controversial as possible. I would have said (and usually did say) anything, about anyone, to gain attention and ultimately just make my friends laugh.

“At the end of the day, I am white, so while I can take accountability for my actions, there’s no way for me to fully understand the way it feels to be on the receiving end of them. All I can say is that I am truly sorry, from the bottom of my heart, to anyone who read it then and anyone reading it now. Any way you feel about me moving forward is valid.”

Although she felt criticism of her was valid, and “this was a chapter of my life I look back at shamefully,” she then turned her attention to “the transphobic brigade of individuals attacking me”.

Describing “a massive smear campaign” against her, Cain said: “These are screenshots obtained through extensive digging, hacking and co-operative effort among a group of individuals who do not care who else is hurt by witnessing this as long as I am hurt the worst in the end.

“All they crave is the complete emotional destruction of me as a person. Personal accounts of mine have been hacked, my family has been doxxed and harassed, photos of me as a child and intimate details of my past have been passed around for fun. I am an adult and I can take accountability for my actions but this goes beyond accountability.”

History-making artist Cain concluded: “I am responsible for my actions and taking accountability for the mistakes I have made in the past, but everything beyond that is brutal slander, targeted harassment and, in the words of my own attackers, bullying with the end goal of me killing myself.

“My team and I are taking this matter seriously and are pursuing legal recourse under the fullest extent of the law.”

The full statement is available here and on Instagram.

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