Ethel Cain Responds to Backlash over ‘Racist Statements’ She Made at 19

Ethel Cain has issued a prolonged assertion addressing previous “racist statements” she made at 19.

On Wednesday, July 9, the singer-songwriter — whose actual title is Hayden Anhedönia — responded to the backlash she obtained after now-deleted screenshots of social media posts from when she was 19 resurfaced on Reddit.

In keeping with Stereogum, on Sunday, July 6 a member of the subreddit devoted to Cain shared screenshots of 2017 and 2018 social posts from 2017 and 2018, which have been initially shared to X by an account known as @herweirdsilas. The posts have been allegedly dedicated to “exposing” Ethel Cain.

Within the screenshots, from the Q&A platform Curious Cat, Cain allegedly admitted to utilizing the N-word and wrote “construct that wall!” in response to a put up mocking the Latino neighborhood, per the positioning.

The X account allegedly shared a 2020 picture of Cain in a T-shirt emblazoned with “LEGALIZE INCEST” and posted proof that she was conscious of Dr. Luke’s alleged abuse of Kesha earlier than she signed to his publishing firm, Prescription Songs, based on Stereogum.

Moreover, there have been allegedly posts that included fat-shaming and rape jokes, amongst different matters, per the positioning.

“To begin issues off, I wish to tackle the Twitter/curiouscat screenshots. That was my account they usually have been my phrases. I used to be 19 and I used to be solely conscious of what I used to be saying and that was why I stated it,” she started the assertion on Google Docs.

Cain, 27, continued: “I spent my later high-school years being extraordinarily progressive and ‘SJW’ [social justice warrior] as they known as it on the time, as a option to reject the indoctrination of my setting and insurgent towards the unfairness, hatred, and ignorance of the tradition I grew up in.”

The “American Teenager” hitmaker claimed that she “fell right into a subculture on-line that prioritized garnering consideration in any respect prices.”

“I flip-flopped once more, rejecting all notions of my former ‘cringe SJW’ conduct and meant to be as inflammatory and controversial as doable,” Cain wrote. “I’d have stated (and often did say) something, about anybody, to realize consideration and in the end simply make my buddies snort.”

Cain added that there was “no place for excuses on this matter.”

“On the finish of the day I’m white, so whereas I can take accountability for my actions, there’s no manner for me to completely perceive the way in which it feels to be on the receiving finish of them. All I can say is that I’m actually sorry from the underside of my coronary heart, to anybody who learn it then and to anybody studying it now. Any manner you are feeling about me shifting ahead is legitimate,” she wrote.

Cain added that she seems again at the moment in her life “shamefully.”

“I’m not happy with my actions, and I’ve performed my greatest to bury it as I really feel strongly that no good can come from it. As I transfer ahead by way of my life, I intention to make use of my platform for good, for change, and for progress. I imagine it’s vital to atone not by way of phrases alone, however by way of actions,” she wrote.

Cain then claimed that the screenshots of stated posts resurfacing have been “not the actions of a well-meaning particular person.”

“These are screenshots obtained by way of in depth digging, hacking, and cooperative effort amongst a gaggle of people who don’t care who else is damage by witnessing this media so long as I’m in the end damage the worst in the long run,” she wrote.

Added Cain: “I’ve recognized that every one of those separate items of my previous have been discovered and hoarded over the previous couple years as I’ve been tipped off in numerous methods. This large smear marketing campaign has been a very long time within the making, ready for the suitable second to be unleashed, and now it lastly has.”

She additionally claimed that these concentrating on her “crave is the whole emotional destruction of me as an individual.”

“Private accounts of mine have been hacked, my household has been doxxed and harassed, images of me as a toddler and intimate particulars of my previous have been handed round for enjoyable. I’m an grownup and I can take accountability for my actions, however this goes past accountability,” wrote Cain.

The “Crush” singer then started to handle the allegations made towards her.

On the subject of “the subject of incest in my paintings,” she claimed it is a “layered expertise.”

“Whereas generally the subject of incest might get intermingled on a track with my very own experiences of sexual abuse or my very own familial traumas, I’ve by no means and would by no means fetishize such a delicate topic,” Cain wrote.

On the allegation of “baby pornography,” which she known as “one of the crucial critical offenses I can fathom” from paintings she made at 19, Cain revealed she created characters who helped her course of her personal alleged sexual assault.

“On the time of that drawing, I had simply been raped by a person twice my age weeks earlier than. The way in which I processed this was the other manner I believed rape victims have been presupposed to behave, as I leaned into sadomasochism and have become fixated on the occasion and thought that by some means sexualizing it in a manner I might management or want would make it extra bearable, as if I wished it,” she wrote.

Cain additionally addressed “the subject of sexual abuse in the direction of animals,” which she denied after she put a canine in a headlock whereas topless.

“My naked breast was squished towards his face for all of two seconds. I can’t imagine I’m even addressing this,” she wrote.

Cain additional addressed the “lacking” poster, which she used to advertise her 2022 debut studio album Preacher’s Daughter,” which had the colour palette and visible language that matched the opposite promo supplies.

“I completely ought to have performed my analysis on the poster I selected, and I perceive how this might be hurtful and damaging to the household of that baby, she wrote. “I insist that this was nowhere near my intention by utilizing it.”

Added Cain: “Hindsight is 20/20 and I’d not be so careless in that regard once more. Nevertheless, the accusations of me fetishizing the kidnapping and homicide of a kid are past egregious and ridiculous.”

The “Strangers” musician additionally addressed “the subject of misogyny and fetishization of the feminine expertise.”

“Cis girls should not the one folks able to being victims of sexual assault,” Cain, who’s transgender, wrote. “They don’t seem to be the one folks able to being abused, kidnapped, or murdered.”

She continued: “To posture that I’ve by no means been harmed in my life as a toddler or an grownup trans lady, or that fearing the very actual chance of being harmed once more, kidnapped, or killed as a trans lady is by some means a ‘fetish’ is solely willfully ignorant and hateful.”

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Cain then claimed there was a whole lot of “ridiculous materials getting used to slander me proper now” and that she could be “pursuing authorized recourse beneath the fullest extent of the regulation.”

“To attempt to sum the whole lot up, no I’m not a violent misogynist fetishizing the ‘feminine expertise’. No I’m not the creator of kid pornography, nor am I a pedophile, a zoophile, or a porn-addicted incest fetishist. I urge you to acknowledge the patterns of a transphobic/in any other case focused smear marketing campaign, particularly on this political day and age,” she wrote.

Cain additionally famous that her boyfriend would tackle claims towards him “in his personal time.”

“To everybody partaking on this anticipating me to handle my racist statements up to now, you’re utterly legitimate. This assertion can’t be the whole lot, however I hope it’s a begin,” she wrote.

Cain added that she will not let this “smear marketing campaign” silence her.

“Once more, nowadays, simply as I should be diligent with my voice and my actions, you share the identical duty,” she concluded.

Cain is about to launch her album Willoughby Tucker, I am going to All the time Love You on Aug. 8.

If you happen to or somebody you realize has been sexually assaulted, please contact the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.