Falling In Reverse’s Ronnie Radke has more antics in his life than the 2004 album from Interpol. Unlike the aforementioned Interpol album, though, Radke’s antics are usually met with a lot of ridicule and derision – even from within the community of musicians he often associates with. At this point, it’s a rare week when he’s not in the news for something, and it’s almost universally bad. Whether it’s mic stands, having I See Stars kicked off a tour, particularly nasty accusations, and a Wikipedia entry that’s actually pretty lengthy, there’s no shortage of ammunition for his critics to arm themselves with.
It should be mentioned, of course, that Radke is almost 40 years old. Despite the band he fronts being very popular (they just finished their biggest tour to date in arenas – when he doesn’t cancel the shows, anyway) and also being very successful as a whole (FIR’s most recent original single, “Watch The World Burn”, entered the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time), Radke apparently still has the time to insult an entire band’s fanbase, apparently fabricate a story about being served raw chicken at Rock Fest recently, and insult a crowd of people that showed up to see him. This is just a host of recent happenings.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DjentShitposting/posts/3357767394473626/
It gets better, though. And by better, we mean worse. Radke recently stated that he didn’t need to warm up his voice and take care of it, despite basically all vocal coaches and teachers stating the opposite. Probably explains many of the FIR show cancellations over the years, especially recently. Radke also claimed he’s a “better singer, live and on record” than Chris Motionless (despite Motionless In White rarely canceling any show over the years), apparently hurt by the fact anyone would think that a better vocalist exists than Ronnie himself. Just a few days ago, he personally hopped in the inbox of someone who dared to criticize him, in a viral story you can view below. The “criticism” in question wasn’t even any sort of personal attack, either.
Ronnie radke: doesn’t need to warm up his voice and thinks he’s superior because of it.
Also Ronnie radke: cancels shows because he blows his voice out because he… doesn’t do warm ups. 🤡 ass mf pic.twitter.com/eLPbvYBNzm
— 𝕮𝖍𝖊𝖘†𝖓𝖊𝔜 𝕮𝖍𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖗 Kendall’s Emo WWG (@chestneychiller) July 16, 2023
aight i can tolerate a lot of ronnie radke’s shit but this is not it. he and chris grew up in the scene together and he’s so far up his own ass he can’t admit when another artist is more skilled than him https://t.co/m4HdLLZCXU
— rachel🕷️ (@diablorachel) July 16, 2023
The story for the latter is essentially this. A critic by the name of Camron Fritts commented publicly on a post by Finn McKenty (The Punk Rock MBA), where a meme poking fun at both him and Anthony Fantano (AKA The Needle Drop) surfaced. After Ronnie went out of his way to defend Finn (who’s come under serious fire recently for giving a platform to a handful of far right-wing reactionaries), Camron commented with critical, yet actually harmless, words.
Ronnie Radke calling out a crowd for being boring is funniest to me knowing he was upset that a crowd of grown adults and kids born in the mid 2000’s weren’t popping off for a Smash Mouth cover
— linn county rocker (@NickTheYeller) July 19, 2023
To say Radke responded in the typical way would be an understatement – and in this case, it was actually first contact in Camron’s DMs. You can imagine where this goes next, where Radke actually offered Camron $10,000 to criticize him to his face. Amazing. It keeps getting better, though. Radke got kicked off multiple social media platforms for transphobic language, literally agreeing with a fan about being a transphobe. Very classy, really.
You were too real for that app. pic.twitter.com/PI2E0qSGjh
— Pizza Pepe (@redpilledasfuck) July 29, 2023
Combine that with his bullying and name-calling behavior over the years to anyone who even looks at him wrong, and it’s a wonder any bands will willingly tour with a person like that. Money talks, of course, but in the case of Falling In Reverse’s recent headlining tour, many dates were canceled due to a number of factors. Mentioning that he purposely doesn’t warm up his voice and claiming he’s a better vocalist than Chris Motionless, Radke’s also coming under fire for some pretty ignorant transphobic and race-related statements. The former of which actually got him banned from TikTok.
“you’re a brainwashed kid pushing back against common sense” “a man isn’t a man and a women isn’t a woman anymore”
the contents tab on your wikipedia page: https://t.co/ZO9JLKsVQy pic.twitter.com/AvzXv4oRpn— maddy🍋 (@fyridk) July 26, 2023
The critically acclaimed science expert (probably) also thinks that his brand of humor is hilarious (lolno), and then whines when he’s apparently being shadowbanned on Twitter. also posing as a famed historian who makes references to Rome. Also claiming to care about children (Google “mic stand Ronnie Radke”, trust us) and embarking on a confusing rant about gender identity with multiple improper uses of plurals in the same breath, he then decided that continuing to mock Spiritbox and their fanbase (classy!) was a brilliant idea, with an end-of-tour sign you can see below.
Wish you were here spiritbox, tour is over, nothing changed, in fact it got bigger, thank you. Thanks twitter. LOL pic.twitter.com/nmnB5kOzrS
— michael jackson (@RonnieRadke) July 30, 2023
Apparently it was supposed to be “light-hearted” in nature, but is continuing to stir up needless drama and continually mock a band’s fanbase really a good idea? Probably not. For someone that’s so successful in the music industry and has been the voice behind some admittedly high-charting hits over the last decade + five, Ronnie Radke is seemingly always involved in some kind of drama. He’s now echoing some far-right talking points, and saying things like “freedom of speech is dead”. There’s a great irony in writing entire songs whining about how you’re being “canceled”, and then selling out most of your headlining tour (when Radke shows up, that is), while still maintaining the facade that the “woke mob” (whoever the fuck that is, it’s a typical far-right talking point) is sabotaging your right to speak.
I have officially changed my lyrics In I’m not a vampire from
“I feel like a lady that is pregnant with a baby”
to
“I feel like a birthing person that is pregnant with a person who’s been birthed”Please like me
— michael jackson (@RonnieRadke) July 26, 2023
The same people that call me a womanizer, abuser, and bigot are the same people that support the ideology that trans can have periods and support tampon companies making trans the spokesperson. It’s extremely offensive to all women, to mock their biology. stop pretending this is… pic.twitter.com/OrjD8GHHUJ
— michael jackson (@RonnieRadke) July 25, 2023
Adding any more to this drama fest would be silly, but it really does beg these questions. Is participating in the bullying of people who offer the slightest bit of criticism, taking aim at a band’s entire fanbase because they didn’t want to be associated with your brand, and spouting off about gender identity and issues of race, really the best use of someone’s time? Probably not, but then again, who the fuck knows at this point. Perhaps trying to target a band like SeeYouSpaceCowboy and then blatantly lying about the crowds they play to wasn’t the best idea, either.
does this look like 75 people https://t.co/zeMwW7RV2T pic.twitter.com/OvO57N4XAi
— jeff (@noxheav3n) August 2, 2023
Someone passed out and @RonnieRadke just screamed at everyone and told women to drink water pic.twitter.com/XmQfGOh5aW
— Laur (@unhingedlaur) July 16, 2023
It’s not a completely different thing, you need the respect the fact that I identify as a black man if you want me to respect you identify as a woman, you aren’t allowed to pick and choose. https://t.co/DfV3t3YQTu
— michael jackson (@RonnieRadke) July 26, 2023
Cool I identify as a black man, do I get my reparations now? https://t.co/gijs4MNMlX
— michael jackson (@RonnieRadke) July 26, 2023