Ethel Cain readdresses ‘shameful’ past use of ‘racist language’
Ethel Cain speaks out about her “shameful” use of a racial slur. (Getty)
Ethel Cain speaks out about her "shameful" use of a racial slur. (Getty)
“F**k Me Eyes” singer Ethel Cain has further addressed her “deeply shameful” past use of “racist language”, explaining that she used to share social media posts to be “intentionally inflammatory”.
Earlier this month, a number of old posts made by transgender musician Ethel Cain – real name Hayden Silas Anhedönia – resurfaced on X.
In the social media posts, posted on Tumblr before Cain found fame, the singer admitted to using the racist N-word slur, and retorted “build that wall” in response to a post mocking Latinx people. “Build that wall” is a sentiment popularised by president Donald Trump in reference to his anti-immigration stance.
Another resurfaced post also appeared to show Cain wearing a T-shirt that read: “Legalize Incest”.
In an interview with The New York Times’ Popcast podcast, the “American Teenager” singer addressed why she felt the need to share the intentionally “incendiary” remarks at that time in her life.
“I look back at a period of my life, when I was young and angry and lashing out at the world – it is deeply shameful and embarrassing to see that dredged back up, especially when I’ve created a project that is so built on trauma and healing and coming from these places in life where you have been shot down and hurt.
“To then have things that you have done that are shooting down and hurting people, it’s one of the worst things you can do. It’s hateful. It was intentionally inflammatory. I won’t make any excuses for that,” she said.
Ethel Cain went on to say that she hopes to make amends for the all the “pain” that the posts caused.
She further explained that she used to share such posts as she “did not care” about her life at the time and so her reputation back then “didn’t matter”.
“I do not matter and therefore I can be incendiary and any surface level attention is good attention. I had no friends, no followers, no nothing. It was me and a bunch of other teenagers yelling at each other on the internet so I was able to just take all this weird negativity in retaliation that I could never spew out at the people in my life who actually maybe deserved [it].”
She reaffirmed that she wanted to use her platform going forward to “make right”.
In the days that followed the posts coming to light, Cain published a lengthy statement explaining that she wanted to “take accountability for [her] actions”.
“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,” she wrote.
However, the singer went on to slam “the transphobic brigade of individuals attacking” her, including those who had sourced the screenshots of old social media posts through “extensive digging” and “hacking”.
She described the onslaught as “a massive smear campaign” designed to see “the complete emotional destruction” of her as a person.
During her chat with Popcast, the history-making 27-year-old music star also spoke about her upcoming second studio album Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, which is due for release on 8 August.
She suggested that after the release of the album, she would be “closing the chapter” of Ethel Cain as a persona.
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