Linkin Park announced that a new singer and drummer has joined the band as they prepares to release their first new album in over seven years since the death of frontman Chester Bennington.
Vocalist Emily Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain performed on stage with returning bandmates Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Phoenix and Joe Hahn during a livestreamed concert on Thursday to showcase the new lineup. The band played hits from its discography and debuted their new single The Emptiness Machine, off forthcoming album From Zero.
A globe-hopping arena tour has been announced to support the album release, slated for Nov. 15. The band will perform six shows in Los Angeles, New York, Hamburg, London, Seoul, and Bogota, all before the album drops publicly.
Critics and fans alike were impressed by Armstrong’s vocal chops during Thursday’s show, praising her ability to “recall Bennington without attempting parody,” as AP music reporter Maria Sherman put it.
Armstrong’s Instagram page has been flooded with comments from enthused Linkin Park fans, welcoming her to the band. The former Dead Sara lead singer will be a co-vocalist for Linkin Park alongside Shinoda.
But for some fans, the excitement quickly soured after allegations resurfaced that Armstrong supported That 70’s Show actor and convicted rapist Danny Masterson during his trial.
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The allegations stem from fellow musician, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, who claims that Armstrong intimidated Masterson’s victims during a preliminary hearing. Masterson is a high-profile member of the Church of Scientology and Bixler-Zavala claims Armstrong is also a prominent Scientologist.
“Do your fans know about your friend Danny Masterson? Your rapist friend,” wrote Bixler-Zavala last year in a comment on Dead Sara’s Instagram page.
“Remember how your fellow scientologist goon squad surrounded one of the Jane Doe’s when she was trying to leave the elevators? The court sherriffs had to escort her away from your awful cult.”
Bixler-Zavala shared a screenshot of this comment on his Instagram story after it was announced that Armstrong was joining Linkin Park, Rolling Stone reports, though the story has since been deleted.
Bixler-Zavala is a former member of the Church of Scientology and a Getty Images photo is circulating showing him and Armstrong together at a Scientology event in 2013.
There do not appear to be photos of Armstrong at Masterson’s trials, but journalist Tony Ortega reported in 2020 that Armstrong showed up to an arraignment with Masterson as part of a large entourage of “longtime friends.”
Bixler-Zavala’s wife, Chrissie Carnell-Bixler, is also a former Scientologist and she was one of the women that accused Masterson of sexual assault. Masterson was convicted of raping two Jane Doe’s, women whose names were not made public, though he was never convicted on charges tied to Carnell-Bixler’s allegations, the Rolling Stone reports.
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