Winston Marshall Quits Mumford & Sons
Following his Andy Ngo comments, and the resulting furore...
*Winston Marshall* has decided to quit *Mumford & Sons*.
The band player and guitarist caused a social media furore earlier this year, when *he tweeted support* of the controversial American journalist Andy Ngo.
Following this, Mumford & Sons issued a statement, with Winston Marshall seemingly taking time out to reflect.
Well, he's done reflecting: Winston Marshall will leave Mumford & Sons effective immediately, sharing *a lengthy note* to explain his thoughts.
Opening by discussing the opening weeks and months of their career, he fast forwards to the now-infamous tweet; "Finally had the time to read your important book. You’re a brave man..."
He writes: "Posting about books had been a theme of my social-media throughout the pandemic. I believed this tweet to be as innocuous as the others. How wrong I turned out to be. Over the course of 24 hours it was trending with tens of thousands of angry retweets and comments. I failed to foresee that my commenting on a book critical of the Far-Left could be interpreted as approval of the equally abhorrent Far-Right."
"Nothing could be further from the truth. Thirteen members of my family were murdered in the concentration camps of the Holocaust. My Grandma, unlike her cousins, aunts and uncles, survived. She and I were close. My family knows the evils of fascism painfully well. To say the least. To call me 'fascist' was ludicrous beyond belief. I’ve had plenty of abuse over the years. I’m a banjo player after all. But this was another level. And, owing to our association, my friends, my bandmates, were getting it too. It took me more than a moment to understand how distressing this was for them."
The band took the decision to stand by him, issuing a statement to clarify his position. Winston explains: "Emotions were high. Despite pressure to nix me they invited me to continue with the band. That took courage, particularly in the age of so called 'cancel culture'. I made an apology and agreed to take a temporary step back."
The note extensively quotes Russian author Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, both for his decision to apologise and for his subsequent decision to leave the band.
Winston Marshall explains his departure by commenting: "For me to speak about what I’ve learnt to be such a controversial issue will inevitably bring my bandmates more trouble. My love, loyalty and accountability to them cannot permit that. I could remain and continue to self-censor but it will erode my sense of integrity. Gnaw my conscience. I’ve already felt that beginning."
"The only way forward for me is to leave the band. I hope in distancing myself from them I am able to speak my mind without them suffering the consequences. I leave with love in my heart and I wish those three boys nothing but the best. I have no doubt that their stars will shine long into the future. I will continue my work with *Hong Kong Link Up* and I look forward to new creative projects as well as speaking and writing on a variety of issues, challenging as they may be."
The full note can be found *HERE.*
