Accountability in Music • Page 416

Matty sucks, & I say that as a fan of the band & specifically of a lot of his songwriting. He's said things worthy of being called out. A recent interview where Pinegrove was addressed comes to mind.

But, like, honestly, if that particular tacky tweet counts as "accountability in music," then I don't even know...

Sure, it would've been better to post the words w/out the video. Or, maybe acknowledge the song in a way that's a dialogue about how the issue that inspired that line shouldn't keep happening, like in a way that's more nuanced & personal, & feels less self-serving. But, I just don't think being clunky on issues of justice should be "accountability." Even if the person being called out has a bad track record, probably shouldn't frame it as "the clunky tweet is worth being called out in the same thread as abuse & racism."

 

I didn’t know Russell Simmons was accused of sexual assault. That’s disappointing.

 

I want you all to know that the whole problem is that the people in this thread have now put more emotional labor into unpacking and understanding both sides of this than matty himself has

and if that doesn’t fucking say it all then idk what to tell you.

 

this website is a fucking joke and none of you actually give a shit about accountability, just being mad as shit for no reason.

 

I know you said you’d never be convinced so this is a waste of my time apparently but you don’t understand how centering yourself and self promoting even if it’s a relevant topic is insensitive given that someone just died without justice?

Like bruh this is not the time to plug your own music are you kidding me that this has to be said right now lol

 

how can you just declare you've put in more emotional labor than someone that you don't know? that feels like you're just giving yourself points for nothing lol

 

I don’t really get how it’s self promoting when I assume almost anyone who follows his personal twitter account has heard LIIWMI

 

we can never know what he has or has not done in private/without advertising it. maybe he’s made donations, maybe he’s had tough conversations with ppl in his life (we actually kinda know this to be true bc in an interview around when LIIWMI came out, he and George actually shut down Ross when he tries to say some bs about policing/racism), but if he made his every move in this regard public he would be (imo rightly) considered performative. so idk man. I really don’t lol.

 

I said the thread as a whole and wasn’t referring to myself but ok? it’s pretty easy to see that there are a handful of people here unpacking and engaging with the idea more than matty did. He literally had a tantrum and deleted his social media. The very definition of not engaging.

 

Oh thank god jake is here to tell me what I don’t give a shit about

 

he deleted twitter not all his social accounts, then went to insta and shared the petition and a picture of the cop who killed Floyd with just the caption “MURDER”. I genuinely he’s trying to course correct, but tbh, I don’t see anyone changing their minds at this point barring some huge revelation.

 

It’s still centering himself?

 

alright, you declared for all of us, it's still the same thing.

I don't think I would call just deleting your twitter a tantrum, if he had tweeted out a bunch of shit beforehand and was arguing with people then maybe, but just deleting your twitter does not feel like a tantrum.

 

that is him engaging with the event and it’s good that he is on other platforms but what he didn’t do at all was engage in why people were mad at him?

Like. This is directly about avoiding accountability.
I don’t understand how it’s controversial to say that deleting your whole account when met with criticism instead of engaging with said criticism and utilizing self reflection is a fragile baby move to pull.

 

I feel like it should have been really easy for him to re-tweet the original statement about BLM, then say "Hey, I appreciate you guys calling this out, that was dumb of me and I'm sorry. Here are links to where you can sign a petition and donate money to the family/protestors/whoever". He has in the past been receptive to criticism and thanked his followers for holding him to account for his dumb statements. He didn't need to delete his account and also didn't need to re-tweet the song just as a separate tweet. That's all.

 

Exactly...it’s pretty simple?

 

don’t do this, cmon

 

Also just have to say that like you can disagree with what people are saying all you want but to come in here and attack personally is fucking wild and I’m so salty that the last few pages had more than one comment alluding to fellow users being wrong/idiots/whatever the case may be

 

Me, really??
I’m not about someone coming in and lashing out at people, myself included, and especially to make a statement such as that. It’s offensive and rude.

 

White musicians using black musical vernacular and being more marketable because of them being white has been a problem for a long time.

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be cross-cultural exchange or no white musician ever referencing black music. I'm pointing to the irony of matty writing lyrics about these things re:"selling melanin" and then not being a great ally.

 

even if we’re assuming the absolute worst case scenario about jake’s post, which there is no reason to, he’s made one post over ... like a year lol. he likely won’t make another post and won’t read your responses to him. it’s extremely easy to ignore/not respond to.

 

idk I’ve had a lot of ppl in my life (including myself) of all genders delete their socials and it’s almost always after something happens that causes their mental health to take a major hit on the platform.

I don’t believe that taking the least charitable read on a given situation is always the best way to proceed or even helpful, and I think that’s where I differ from a lot of peeps involved in social justice. that’s more so a comment about the twitter/insta/etc randos than anyone here. but I personally don’t believe calling him various things like “a fragile baby” or whatever helps, especially if it DID take a hit on his mental health (something that personally worries me as it’s likely his mental health and addiction are tied and I hope he’s not in a fragile enough state to relapse but that also might be out of line for me to say idk).

 

Well then it sounds just as easy for him to not come in here and out the gate attack people for trying to give a shit about things.
After all the emotional labor I put into accountability no one is going to come in and say “y’all don’t care about accountability” and not get an argument from me.

 

I mean, ngl, as a survivor myself from my perspective I think there’s a shit ton of performativity in this thread. I’d personally never go so far as to say ppl don’t care, I’d def argue a lot of ppl in here don’t, and will never, truly “get it” and a lot of those ppl imo are ridiculously vocal in here. it’s been a major turn off for me in the past and I know it has for other users (and no, they aren’t all fragile white baby boys lol)

 

I called him a fragile baby on a web forum not in his mentions. What I say about him here is not attacking and bullying him.
I’m not going to lie it sounds like you’re attaching your own experiences to this and I understand and think that you’re being sensitive- but you’re also reaching in an attempt to justify him or vindicate him or whatever. There was no indication that his mental health had anything to do with it. Making those kinds of assumptions is imo slippery.