Black Veil Brides‘ Andy Biersack has defended his decision to tour with Falling In Reverse and his friendship with Ronnie Radke.
Biersack and co are currently serving as opening support for Falling In Reverse on their 2024 US “The Popular Moms Tour II World Domination”. Upon announcing their supporting slot, the ‘Fallen Angels’ singers received major backlash over Radke’s divisive views shared on his social media accounts.
The Black Veil Brides frontman took to his X/Twitter account after the tour kicked off to discuss the band’s reasoning for joining Radke and co on tour. “We have and will continue to tour with alot of different artists. I’ll say this though even though it likely won’t land because I imagine you have a presupposition here but thus far we have been treated with a level of kindness and enthusiasm on this tour that we aren’t accustomed to.
We have and will continue to tour with alot of different artists. I’ll say this though even though it likely won’t land because I imagine you have a presupposition here but thus far we have been treated with a level of kindness and enthusiasm on this tour that we aren’t…
— Andy Biersack (@andyblack) August 19, 2024
“In fact for 3 legs of Trinity we were fairly universally loathed by the other bands fans either passively or in many cases overtly whereas last night the people in attendance who maybe didn’t know much about BVB gave us a chance and seemed to want to really have fun at a show rather than lean on the scene oriented “BVB sucks” take,” began his tweet.
Biersack then went on to share that they were treated with the utmost kindness by Radke which was “something that is uncommon for us to experience on non headlining runs historically.” He added that fans don’t have to come to a show on the tour run if it is not for them.
Shortly after, Radke went on to defend Biersack and co in a video shared on his official Instagram account (which has now been deleted) over the backlash they have received for their current tour.
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The Falling In Reverse vocalist called Biersack one of the “nicest, most fucking intelligent, well-spoken, fucking cultured human” beings he’s ever met, and argued that iconic musicians wouldn’t associate with him if he was truly as bigoted as people claim he is.
“We don’t fucking like you, I promise you. All these little fucking whiny little brats talking about bigotry and shit… I’ve put gays in my videos, I’ve hired gay people, trans people behind the scenes to do my makeup, to do my fucking costumes,” he said (per Loudwire)
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Now, in an interview with Rock Feed, Biersack opened up about his friendship with Radke saying: “There is a lot of conversation that is had about … the characteristics of [a person’s] intent when it comes to things they say. I think obviously there is validity to those things because who you are is ostensibly the brand that you present and that is true.”
He continued: “But the way that I have always viewed Ronnie has always been through the prism of there is an undeniable charisma or rock star characteristic about this person that you would be hard pressed to deny. Have he and I always seen eye to eye on things? Absolutely not. Even when we toured together there would maybe be things that we disagreed on.”
Speaking about his past interactions with Radke, Biersack shared: “The one thing that has always been true is that he is somebody that anytime I’ve ever had a conversation with him, he very clearly has good intentions and a good heart. He and I disagree on a great many things, but to me it doesn’t matter. The people that you respect or work with do not have to share the same value system or beliefs as you to know that they are talented or valid or worthy of the position that they have.”
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Black Veil Brides and Falling In Reverse are currently on tour in North America. Their next show is slated for tonight (August 29) in Irving, Texas at the Toyota Music Factory. Check out a full list of remaining tour dates below and visit here to purchase tickets.
Black Veil Brides and Falling In Reverse 2024 US tour dates are:
AUGUST
29 – Irving, TX @ Toyota Music Factory
30 – Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
SEPTEMBER
1 – Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
2 – Charlotte, NC @ Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre
4 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater
6 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
7 – Scranton, PA @ Montage Mountain
9 – Boston, MA @ Leader Bank Pavilion
10 – Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater
12 – Burgettstown, PA @ The Pavilion at Star Lake
13 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
15 – Sterling Heights, MI @ Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
16 – Indianapolis, IN @ Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park
17 – Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
20 – Franklin, TN @ FirstBank Amphitheater
21 – St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amp
23 – Denver, CO @ The Junkyard
25 – Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
In other news, it has been reported that Radke recently filed a defamation suit against YouTube music critic Anthony Fantano.
It was reported that Radke claimed that Fantano “acted in malice” and “engaged in fraud” through his 2023 video about the singer, titled ‘This Guy Sucks’.
On December 18, there is set to be a case management conference regarding the case.