All That Remains vocalist Phil Labonte is in the headlines again, and not so shockingly it’s for something other than his music. According to The Pulse Of Radio, Labonte spoke of his use of the word “f*ggot” in a recent interview with Revolver Magazine, and in doing so managed to insert another foot into his often-open mouth.
From Blabbermouth:
“I have nothing against gay people. It’s just a word… I think the only people that have a legit grievance when it comes to any racial slurs is the black community.” Adding that he was not trying the “minimize” the plight of the LGBT community, he continued that “homosexuals were never property,” and that even though they have “had a rough time,” the “black community has a whole lot more room to be upset about a word than the LGBT community.”
Not sure if, “an estimated 100,000 homosexual men, 50,000 of whom were imprisoned” by Nazi Germany passes as “property” to Labonte (along with the thousands in concentration camps), but those are the facts from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
In a 2012 interview, again with Revolver, Labonte dismissed the controversy from calling Motionless in White vocalist Andy Biersack the “F” word.
“I don’t worry about what people think about me. I’ll call everyone in my band a faggot and some people who read that get really butt-hurt. I just don’t know why. What happened to, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me”? I don’t advocate hurting someone’s feelings because of their sexual orientation, but at the same time, if it really offends you when someone says “faggot” you need to man up. It’s just a word.”
Revolver Magazine is certainly getting some mileage out Labonte’s choice of words, but All That Remains to be seen is if this sort of “press” will help or hurt the bands upcoming release of their seventh album , The Order of Things, which is due out February 24th on Razor and Tie.
