Weeks after Linkin Park announced its new lead singer, the mother of Chester Bennington admitted she felt “betrayed” by the band’s decision.
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During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Bennington’s mother, Susan Eubank, recalled the Linkin Park bandmates promising to notify her if they planned to continue as a group.
“They told me if they were ever going to do something, they would let me know,” Chester Bennington’s mother stated about the Linkin Park bandmates. “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.”
Eubank also said she had run into Linkin Park bandmates Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn years since Chester’s death. However, neither ever mentioned a reunion was in the works. She did point out that Shinoda reached out when they planned to release new songs with her son’s vocals.
She admitted she was blindsided by the announcement that controversial singer Emily Armstrong was selected as Linkin Park’s new lead vocalist.
“I found out about Emily Armstrong joining the band on Google,” Eubank shared. “When I go to Google to look for something, the first thing that often pops up is Linkin Park. And I saw that whole thing of, ‘We have an announcement.’ That whole week, they were at the top if you go enter anything into Google.”
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Eubank said she turned on the band’s livestream performance when they announced Armstrong as the new lead singer. However, she admitted it was “not on purpose.”
“I thought her singing…” Eubank. “I don’t even remember what it is [she was singing], because I didn’t want to hear it. It was just a moment. But it was her, I’m just going to say it, screeching her way through a very high note. And I got out of there as fast as I could.”
Chester Bennington’s mother further pointed out that Shinda was interested in adding female vocals to the group years ago. Bennington had stated if he ever left the group that the bandmates would bring on a woman as lead vocals.
“I don’t think that there’s anybody in the world that has the same voice,” Eubank shared about her son. “And when I heard that, I was just so repelled that no, they’re trying to do exactly what Chester did, but they’re not succeeding at it.”
Bennington’s son, Jaime, slammed Shinoda and Linkin Park for replacing his late father with Armstrong.
“People aren’t having a difficult time wrapping their heads around the prospect of Linkin Park reinventing itself,” Jaime stated. “They’re having a hard time wrapping their head around how you: 1). hired your friend of many years @emilyarmstrong to replace [Chester].”
Jaime has since stated that Linkin Park “fans” have attacked him for his comments, telling him to “kill himself” while being fully aware of how his father died.
Chester Bennington died in 2017. His death was ruled a suicide.