While touring in 2015, members of The Ghost Inside survived a fatal bus accident; however, another type of bad incident happened that year that wasn’t brought to light until now.
The band recently released a shirt that says “What Do You Stand For?” with proceeds benefiting the NAACP. This gesture prompted Bracewar drummer Rashod Jackson called out the band for a comment bassist Jim Riley made to a bus driver five years ago.
“This is cute. @theghostinside y’all gonna act like your bitch ass bass player didn’t call y’alls bus driver a nigger that time? I ain’t forget that shit,” he tweeted.
When asked why this was just coming out now, Jackson shared a screenshot of a tweet dated March 2, 2015 where he called out Riley.
Riley publicly addressed Jackson’s tweets, admitting to making the comments and apologizing for them, but the drummer didn’t accept his apology.
On Saturday, The Ghost Inside made the decision to part ways with Riley and shared a statement on Twitter. “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,” they wrote. “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,” they continued. “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.”
See the full statement below.
