The Ghost Inside have parted ways with bassist Jim Riley, after accusations of Riley using racial slurs towards a bus driver in 2015 that recently surfaced on Thursday (June 4).
A fan tweeted the band saying “this is cute, y’all gonna act like your bitch ass bass player didn’t call y’all’s bus driver” a racial slur in the past, “I ain’t forget that shit” the fan continues. This tweet came in response to the band releasing a t-shirt to benefit NAACP, a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as a bi-racial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey and Ida B. Wells. You can see the Tweet below:
https://twitter.com/RashodJackson/status/1268745821010485249?s=20
This prompted an immediate response from the band, who released a statement shortly after, which you can read below.
“The Ghost Inside was born from a scene of forward thinking, understanding and progressiveness. Our music and message has always been one of hope and finding that light at the end of the tunnel. Racism and bigotry of any kind stifle that journey towards the light. It closes and locks doors that need to be broken open.
“We have decided to part ways with bassist Jim Riley. While we didn’t hear these words spoken directly from his mouth, we did hear mutterings of the incident. At the time we thought this to be just a rumor, but it offended and hurt a community. A community we are meant to bring together. We should’ve spoken up back then but we didn’t, we should’ve dug deeper. We acknowledge that we were silent. We are self educating and growing and learning as individuals. We are here to say that we as a band fully condemn racism and support the black community in the fight against systemic racism.”
https://twitter.com/theghostinside/status/1269347709531623426?s=20
The Ghost Inside recently released their Self-Titled album on Friday (June 5) and features the single “Aftermath” and “Make Or Break.” The album marked the bands first release since their fatal bus accident in 2015.
