An Australian singer from a popular rock band has addressed the intense criticism she received after posting a photo of herself wearing a pro-Trump ‘Make America Great Again’ cap.
Hayley Mary, the lead vocalist of The Jezabels, shared the selfie featuring the controversial red hat last week to create shock value and protest Australia’s Misinformation Bill.
However, the 37-year-old’s post backfired, igniting outrage within the Australian music industry.
‘Firstly, the MAGA hat was for shock value,’ she wrote in a separate post.
‘Let’s be honest, without it that would have been a very dry post about a Misinformation Bill by the Australian parliament that no one would have seen or discussed because politics (other than Trump) is boring.’
The singer, who also has her own solo career, claims she has been ‘cancelled’ and has lost friends as a result of the backlash.
‘The fallout was everything you could imagine. I probably no longer have a music career in the way that I knew it,’ she told the Herald Sun.
‘I’ve lost some friends, though I hope that’s temporary. I’ve lost some of the infrastructure of my business; publicity, band members, crew members, a show, my album launch, some revenue and quite a few followers.’
Hayley Mary, the lead vocalist of The Jezabels, shared the selfie featuring the controversial red hat last week to create shock value and protest Australia’s Misinformation Bill
Hayley said spreading information about the bill is ‘dangerous enough’ and worth jeopardising her career over.
‘I will almost definitely lose friends and income with this post, but I’ve lived in self-censorship in the super-woke music industry for years now and it starts to grate at one’s soul, especially as I now realise my own p**s-weak silence helped this law sneak in,’ she wrote in her original post.
‘So yeah, cancel me and cancel my shows is you like. I don’t care enough to keep up the façade.
The Jezabels are a Sydney-based rock band who formed in 2007, with members consisting of lead singer Hayley, guitarist Sam Lockwood, pianist and keyboardist Heather Shannon, and drummer and percussionist Nik Kaloper. All pictured
Hayley said spreading information about the bill is ‘dangerous enough’ and worth jeopardising her career over
‘What good is rock n roll if it has to be filtered through the ministries of truth and propaganda anyways?’
The Jezabels are a Sydney-based rock band who formed in 2007, with members consisting of lead singer Hayley, guitarist Sam Lockwood, pianist and keyboardist Heather Shannon, and drummer and percussionist Nik Kaloper.
The band went on indefinite hiatus in 2017, but reunited for a tour in 2022.
Their most recent album release was Synthia in 2016, having previously released the ARIA award-winning album Prisoner in 2012 and multi-nominated Dark Storm in 2011.
In 2016, The Jezabels were forced to cancel their world tour as Heather entered emergency treatment for ovarian cancer, a condition she’d been battling for years.
The rest of the band decided not to continue the tour without their fourth member and told fans of their decision.
Heather was first diagnosed with a rare ovarian cancer in 2013 and had previously been able to keep tour commitments.
The band went on indefinite hiatus in 2017, but reunited for a tour in 2022
