Last September, 13-year-old Hannah Bond, a My Chemical Romance fan in Kent, England, committed suicide. This month, the coroner, in announcing a verdict of suicide, suggested there was a link between her suicide and her obsession with emo music: "The emo overtones concerning death and associating it with glamor I find very disturbing."
The British tabloids then had a field day with the tragedy, with The Daily Mail going so far as to calling emo "a suicide cult."
Finally, MCR has responded to the coverage of the tragedy in the following post on their official website:
We have recently learned of the suicide and tragic loss of Hannah Bond. We'd like to send our condolences to her family during this time of mourning. Our hearts and thoughts are with them.
My Chemical Romance are and always have been vocally anti-violence and anti-suicide. As a band, we have always made it one of our missions through our actions to provide comfort, support, and solace to our fans. The message and theme of our album "The Black Parade" is hope and courage. Our lyrics are about finding the strength to keep living through pain and hard times. The last song on our album states: "I am not afraid to keep on living" -- a sentiment that embodies the band's position on hardships we all face as human beings. If you or anyone that you know have feelings of depression or suicide, we urge you to find your way and your voice to deal with these feelings positively.
British MCR fans are planning to march in London's Hyde Park this coming Sunday in protest of the media's portrayal of the band.
Viva los emos!!
After weeks of harassment and violence, Mexican emo kids can rest a little easier -- their heroes have come to the rescue.
When My Chemical Romance took the stage in Mexico City (this past Saturday at Zero Fest), Gerard Way spoke to the crowd:
“I want to say something today before we continue. Recently we’ve been hearing a lot of stuff about some violence here in your country having to do with kids who want to wear black t-shirts...or some kind of bulls--- stuff like that. We don’t want to see any f---ing violence! We came here for one reason, and that’s to be at the f---ing rock show!”
MTV News was on the scene reporting on the recent rash of emo bashings. Our producer's experience talking to local emo kids after the jump. Plus, more pics of MCR at ZeroFest... Read more...
This is one of the craziest stories we've seen in a while. Like, recalibrating the crazy-meter kind of crazy. Apparently, there is rising wave of violence happening against emo kids in Mexico. Not just teasing and the occasional crude graffiti ("emos va a casa!"), but actual mobs and standoffs and rock-throwing and beatings and police intervention and everything. A popular television personality named Kristoff has been inciting people to rise against (heh heh) emo kids, and different groups of youth - metalheads, skaters, punks, goths - are all organizing and clashing with kids who look, you know, emo. (It's a good thing Fall Out Boy have already played Mexico).
I mean, say what you will about the emo kids, but THEY ARE JUST STRUGGLING TO FIND A PLACE IN THIS WORLD JUST LIKE YOU AND I.
Anyway, our friends at The Daily Swarm have been doing a good job aggregating a lot of the reporting going on from different daily and weekly newspapers in and around Mexico.
We'll have more for you here, but in the meantime, check this clip, which is crazy whether you understand Spanish or not.
