Spiritbox have confirmed they have pulled out of a US tour with Falling In Reverse amid ongoing controversy relating to frontman Ronnie Radke’s behaviour.
The announcement last week that Spiritbox would open for Falling In Reverse on six dates of their ‘Popular Monstour’ run this summer was met with an immediate outcry. Radke has been a polarising figure throughout his career, having faced allegations of abuse, rape, assault and transphobia, all of which he has consistently denied. He previously spent two-and-a-half years in prison for battery from 2008-2010.
Spiritbox deleted all posts related to the tour on their social media towards the end of last week, sparking speculation that they were withdrawing from the tour. Now, they have confirmed that they will not be opening for Falling In Reverse, but gave no further explanation.
Falling In Reverse have not responded to Spiritbox’s announcement.
We have withdrawn from the 6 shows we were scheduled to perform on the Popular Monstour.
— Spiritbox (@spiritboxband) March 13, 2023
Since the announcement of the tour, Radke was subject to further controversy after being accused of assault. After Loudwire reported on some comments Radke had made on TikTok about cancel culture, a woman retweeted their post on Twitter and asked: “should we hold him accountable for throwing me against a van and choking me eight years ago or is that too long ago? please advise”.
Radke screenshotted the woman’s comments and fiercely denied the allegations, writing: “.@BriiMonster you are 8 foot 7 looking in that pic saying I threw your ass against a van you lying ass fucking bitch I do not play with the false shit I’ll take every last cent from you. you cannot stand that I’m doing good why do you need this kind of attention”. [via The Pit]. The tweet, however, has since been deleted.
It is not clear, however, whether this was the reason for Spiritbox dropping off the Falling In Reverse tour.
Last year, Radke made comments on TikTok that were perceived to be transphobic, asking, “show me one person over the age 19 that calls themselves they them” and adding “billions of people do not call themselves they them, it’s gone too far”.
In addition, Radke was accused of rape by a 25-year-old woman back in 2015, but he denied the allegations and subsequently sued the accuser for defamation. He was also arrested for domestic abuse against his then-girlfriend Sally Watts in 2012, but the charge was dismissed.
