Late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington’s mom said in a new interview that she felt “betrayed” to learn vocalist Emily Armstrong was joining, not from the band, but from the internet.
Susan Eubanks tells Rolling Stone her son’s bandmates planned the group’s comeback without her knowledge, and that she found out about Armstrong “joining the band on Google” despite Linkin Park’s co-founder Mike Shinoda having promised he would tell Bennington’s family of any updates and decisions regarding the band’s future.
“I feel betrayed,” Eubanks told the outlet. “They told me that if they were ever going to do something, they would let me know. They didn’t let me know, and they probably knew that I wasn’t going to be very happy. I’m very upset about it.”
She added: “I feel like they’re trying very hard to erase the past. They’re performing songs that Chester sang. And I don’t know how the fans are taking it, but I know how I take it. And having Armstrong singing my son’s songs is hurtful.”
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Emily Armstrong performs with Linkin Park at Barclays Center on Monday. (Getty)
Eubanks feels keeping their family out of the loop was the “wrong” way to welcome a new addition to the group.
“Don’t put her out there to sing Chester’s songs and then act like this was always the way it should have been. It’s like making him go away, erasing the past. You don’t have to worry about going through the old songs and finding new ones, new Chester songs to put out. Now you can just put out new songs. But don’t bother to put out Chester’s songs with Emily singing them.”
Shinoda denied this sentiment when the “Numb” band started their “From Zero World Tour” in Los Angeles on Sept. 10. “It is not about erasing the past,” he explained. “It is about starting this new chapter into the future and coming out here for each and every one of you.”
Bennington’s son Jamie also slammed the group after Armstrong was hired. He criticized Linkin Park for failing “to address the concerns of their diverse fan base” and said they had “betrayed the trust” of the fans.
Jamie added that Shinoda “quietly erased my father’s life and legacy in real time… during international suicide prevention month.”
Bennington died by suicide on July 20, 2017, one week before the band was scheduled to embark on the North American leg of their One More Light world tour.
Linkin Park’s first new album since Bennington’s death, “From Zero,” is set to release on Nov. 15.