Buckle up, folks – we’ve got another one – as Zion Bittenbender addresses being fired from Vulvodynia. He was in the band for a short time before he got the boot due to sexual assault allegations that had surfaced pretty immediately after Vulvodynia announced Bittenbender as their new vocalist. The band went radio silent, Bittenbender was added to the bill and taken off, and at the beginning of this month, Vulvodynia finally made a public comment about the situation with Bittenbender.
“We would like to apologize for the delay in addressing this situation. We took time to step back and carefully consider the appropriate course of action. After serious internal discussion, we have decided to part ways with Zion. We will also no longer be participating in the upcoming US tour with Defeated Sanity.
“We take allegations of sexual misconduct extremely seriously. Our priority is maintaining an environment that reflects our values and respects our fans, peers, and the wider community. After careful consideration of the circumstances, we believe this decision is in the best interest of the band moving forward.
“We also acknowledge that aspects of how this was initially handled were not managed in the way they should have been, and we sincerely apologize. We will now begin the process of finding a new vocalist. Details regarding auditions will be shared soon. In the meantime, Lwandile will be handling vocal duties for our remaining shows this year.
“We appreciate the patience of our fans and remain committed to moving forward with focus and integrity.”
At this point, after silence on his end, Bittenbender decided to address the situation with the band on social media, rather than acknowledge the allegations that set off the chain of events yesterday evening (7th March).
In a fifteen-slide post on Instagram, Bittenbender showed screenshots that showed his communications with the band and their manager around the time the allegations were made public.
The entirety of the post reads:
First Slide, Bittenbender: “I didn’t want to have to make this post but I have to defend myself regarding Vulvodynia‘s statement about removing me from the band. Firstly, I want to talk about the Defeated Sanity Tour.
Second Slide, Bittenbender: “This is a message from Vulvodynia‘s manager, Lyn. It states that we got removed from the tour purely on a business decision and risk of losing money.
Lyn: “Just to update you, the US agent has confirmed that Vulvodynia have been removed from the Defeated Sanity tour. This was ultimately a venue and promoter decision. When the allegations first surfaced, venues had already threatened to pull the shows, and the only reason the band remained on the tour at that time was because Zion was sent home and not present. With him back in the lineup, the agent doesn’t want to risk cancellations or financial losses across the tour. There won’t be any public reason listed for the removal, to avoid drawing further attention to the situation.”
Slide Three, Bittenbender: “Here is another email from Liam Frith explaining that if Vulvodynia removed me, they would still be on the tour. Vulvodynia only got kicked from the tour because they knew I was innocent and stood up for me.
Liam: “Hey guys, I want to make this one super clear, in case there is a misconception somewhere. The reason we had to remove Vulv from the tour is because when the allegations came to light we had venues threatening to cancel their dates, prior to the tour being announced, but I was able to cool the situation after you had sent Zion home. With Zion staying in the band, the same promoters will pull out of the dates, which was not an option for us. This was purely a business decision, and not a personal decision. For reference, we did not want to remove the band from the tour, and I made it very clear to Lyn for a week beforehand that if Zion were to stay in the band, this would be the outcome because I cannot have this blowing back on Defeated Sanity for your decision, and risk Defeated Sanity‘s headline tour being negatively impacted financially.”
Slide Four: The next slide is a recording of a voice note that Kris [Xenopoulos] sent into a band group chat, stating that “the thing about this though is not that people believe that this is real, they’re just so worried about money. We are here to make music, and make the music that we want to make… all these industry people that are so scared. But, we’ll get over this, we just need to prove ourselves… it might take a year or two of proving ourselves, but after this new music releases, people will show the love for us.”
Slide Five, Bittenbender: “I was waiting on the band to make a statement about the situation. We were advised to say nothing until a plan was made.
[Unspecified]: “Okay, understood! Just know we aren’t going to stay silent, we are just waiting to know what the plan is. Unchained manages huge bands like Lorna Shore. They just are going to give us some direction. Because we also don’t want to bring anymore attention to it and blow it up again when we can keep it under control. That’s all we’ve been advised from our manager is to just say nothing for now until he knows what to do.”
Slide Six, Bittenbender: “For reference, this was the statement that Vulvodynia was going to post about the situation but never ended up posting it. We all agreed to vote on a statement and this was the one the majority of us agreed upon.
[Unspecified]: “Unfortunately as you may have noticed, we have been dropped from the Defeated Sanity tour. This was out of our control. For transparency, this decision was made after venues threatened to cancel the shows as a result of false rumours spread about our new vocalist, Zion.
“Defeated Sanity had nothing to do with this decision, and we’re stoked our friends in Inferi are replacing us on the bill. Please support the tour if you do have tickets.
“We know this is disappointing for our fans and we sincerely apologise. As a South African band touring in the USA, it’s very expensive and we’ve already invested heavily into this tour with visas and will be working towards a return to North America soon.”
Slide Seven, Bittenbender: “Comments were being made by fans wondering why we were removed from the tour. Luke [Haaroff] stating that Vulvodynia was removed from standing up for an innocent friend.
“Yeah, the last few times was vias. This time it’s because we’re standing by our completely innocent friend. :)”
Slide Eight, Bittenbender: “I waited roughly two weeks and nobody gave me updates and no statement was made. They started to remove themselves from tagged posts with me and distance themselves so that it looked like they had no association with me so they could get future tours and shows.”
“Yes, we need a complete social media blackout for now, especially from Zion. Let’s get this settled over the weekend with the agent and we can get on a call next week to discuss future touring plans.”
Slide Nine: Bittenbender then includes a collage of screenshots showing the band removing themselves from collaborative posts.
Slide Ten, Bittenbender: “About a week or so after, the band wanted to jump in a video call to discuss some things. In this call, I was informed that I was to part ways with the band. They stated that the backlash from everything scared management and venues enough that it caused too much of a financial loss for the band that they can’t recover from if I were to remain an active member.”
Slide Eleven, Bittenbender: “In the video chat, we came to an agreement that the band would not post a statement until we all agreed of what it entailed. I waited weeks for a statement and nothing came of it.”
… (oh my god, we’re still going) …
Slide Twelve, Bittenbender: “A day later, Luke [Haaroff] messages me this explaining that the decision was a business decision and that he would defend me if anyone talks bad on my name.
[Haaroff]: “Hey bro… hope you’re doing okay and everything. Still here for you if you ever need and I’ll always be here to talk to. The business stuff sucks, but I still see you as a friend and will vehemently defend you if anyone talks bad on your name around me no matter what. I love you dude, and I mean that. I’m so sad that this all came down the way it did, genuinely.
And I totally understand if you don’t like me or anything after this. But as we said it literally wasn’t our decision anymore and it fucking sucks man. We all love you… but if you wanna talk and just kick the shit, hit me up. I’m here for you. You’re my fucking friend and nothing will change that. I’m so passionate about that fact, like you have no idea. Just know that I’m here for you through the thick and thin, no matter what dumbass bullshit business there is. I’m here for you. I love you so much as a person…”
Slide Thirteen, Bittenbender: “I was tired of waiting and nobody was man enough to make a statement on the matter. I posted this on my story in annoyance of the metal community as a whole. Unfortunately, Vulvodynia took this as a personal attack and proceeded to block me on everything.
[Statement Posted]: “For those who are wondering, yes, I’m no longer in Vulvodynia. The community is a shitshow and scared management enough to get me removed/cancelled. Nobody is man enough to post a statement and just say what happened. I’m still here, it’s not a big deal to me. New music coming, fuck ’em all.”
… (we’re almost there) …
Slide Fourteen, Bittenbender: “Two days later, Vulvodynia posted a statement that was never agreed upon as they said they would. I have since been blocked by everyone in the band.”
Slide Fifteen, Bittenbender: “For the foreseeable future, I will be continuing as business as usual working on projects and covers. I appreciate Vulvodynia for the experience and opportunity they gave me. I just wanted to come on here to provide answers.”
You can see the entire post with all of the screenshots below on Instagram or photos.
