Thy Art Is Murder’s CJ McMahon Shares Apology: “My Intentions Weren’t to Be Transphobic”

August 28, 2023

CONTENT WARNING: The following article discusses transphobic comments and incidents of alleged hate speech.

Thy Art Is Murder frontman CJ McMahon has apologised for posting an abhorrent transphobic comment on Instagram a week ago. The vocalist was met with intense backlash after sharing a video from right-wing commentator Matt Walsh; in the video, a mother asked her child whether they identified as a boy or girl, to which the child replied “both”. McMahon captioned the video with: “She [the mother] should be burned to death”.

The post was removed, but not before McMahon was slammed for the remark, and the other members of Thy Art Is Murder posted a trans flag on Instagram in solidarity with the community. “Setting the record straight, we stand with you,” the band wrote.

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A post shared by Thy Art Is Murder (@thyartinstagram)

In a new video posted to the band’s Instagram, CJ said he wanted to “apologise to everybody that’s been upset and offended by the video that I shared and commented horribly on Instagram a few days ago”.

“My intentions weren’t to be transphobic in any way, shape or form. And now it’s gotten to the point that it really doesn’t matter what my intentions were,” he continued.”I apologise to the LGBTQ+ community and their allies and the people that support them. And I thought I did support them, but obviously my video that I shared and commented horribly on has proved otherwise.

“To my friends that I have that are trans, please don’t take this as me being transphobic. My intentions were very different to be anything other than that. And I apologize to my band that aren’t standing with me and I don’t blame them, so yeah, I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry.”

“I am learning from my mistakes and committed to better understanding, respecting, and supporting every individual,” McMahon wrote in the caption to the video, which you can watch below.