Musician Ethel Cain received wide acclaim for her debut album The Preacher’s Daughter, and there’s huge anticipation for the follow up that’s due to be released next month.
But in the lead up to new record Wiloughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You arriving Cain has found herself embroiled in a controversy over social media posts she made as a teenager.
Ethel Cain is the stage name for Hayden Anhedönia, who came out as transgender when she was 20 years old. Now aged 27, she’s been forced to confront comments she made online long before she had a public profile.
A series of posts from 2017 to 2018 have recently been reshared on Reddit and social media platform X. They appear to show the artist using racist language, referencing taboo topics and promoting offensive humour.
Among the posts are admissions that Cain, then 19, had used the N-word and posted anti-Latino remarks including “Build that wall” a reference to Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall between Mexico and the USA. There is also an image of the singer wearing a t-shirt that says “Legalize Incest” while elsewhere she makes jokes that have been described as fat-shaming and others referencing rape.
In a long and detailed statement Cain addressed the concerns admitting she had written the posts.
“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.” Cain said.
She described her 19-year-old self as someone who fell into a subculture that valued garnering attention at all costs, where she “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.”
The singer said she looked back at that time in her life with shame.
“All I can say is that I am truly sorry from the bottom of my heart, to anyone who read it then and to anyone reading it now. Any way you feel about me moving forward is valid.”
“This was a chapter of my life I look back at shamefully. I am not proud of my actions, and I have done my best to bury it as I feel strongly that no good can come from it. As I move forward through my life, I aim to use my platform for good, for change, and for progress. I believe it’s important to atone not through words alone, but through actions.”
Cain outlined that while she took responsibility for her past comments, she did also believe they are part of a wider smear campaign ahead of her new album coming out.
“This massive smear campaign has been a long time in the making, waiting for the right moment to be unleashed, and now it finally has.” she wrote before addressing each allegation in detail.
“I will not allow this smear campaign to silence me in the same way I have not allowed any of their previous attempts to silence me. Again, in this day and age, just as I must be diligent with my voice and my actions, you share the same responsibility.” she said.
