Linkin Park fire back at claims new singer is trying to replace Chester Bennington-Danni Scott-Entertainment – Metro

Linkin Park reassures fans they are not replacing Chester Bennington (Picture: Chiaki Nozu/WireImage)

Linkin Park’s return has been a rollercoaster of emotions from their surprise new album to the introduction of new singer Emily Armstong.

The 00s icons had been on hiatus since the death of frontman Chester Bennington in 2017, leaving fans devastated.

Emily’s debut has been a controversial one as fans unearthed her historic support of Danny Masterson, which she was forced to address.

As Linkin Park embarked on their short tour — performing at London’s O2 days ago — angry fans have hit out at the group again, claiming the Dead Sara singer is trying to replace Bennington.

Now, founding bandmate and co-vocalist Mike Shinoda has defended Emily, 38, after some backlash from Bennington’s family.

He assured fans this is ‘not meant to be a redo or a rewrite of Linkin Park’ but rather a way to keep the legacy alive and move forward.

Emily Armstrong has joined the band for their new music (Picture:Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

Founding member Mike Shinoda defended the reunion as a ‘new chapter’ (Picture: Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

‘This is intended to be a new chapter of Linkin Park,’ he told Jack Saunders on New Music Show of Radio 1 on Monday, September 23.

The 47-year-old explained: ‘The old chapter was a great chapter and we loved that chapter. It ran its course and now we were faced with a challenge of: “Well OK, if you start from scratch with another voice, what do you do?”‘

Mike insisted the ‘intention wasn’t to start the band up again’ and he had actually been writing music with Emily since 2019.

‘We were just slowly coming together and then eventually things just started to fall into place with Emily and with Colin our new drummer,’ he shared.

The original drummer and founding member Rob Bourdon left the group ahead of what has been dubbed ‘Linkin Park 2.0′.

Guitarist Brad Delson then stepped back from touring, although he is still featured on the new album From Zero.

Mike continued: ‘We talked about putting her voice on things we’d already written that only had my voice on them.

‘Once we did that, we were like, “That sounds really good, we should try that on even more songs.”‘

Some of the backlash against Emily has come from Bennington’s family, with his mother Susan Eubanks writing a letter about her view on the reunion, published by Rolling Stone.

She wrote: ‘I feel betrayed. They told me that if they were ever going to do something, they would let me know. They didn’t let me know, and they probably knew that I [wasn’t] going to be very happy. I’m very upset about it.’

Susan also claimed that the family had not been made aware of the reunion before it was publicly announced, although Bennington’s widow has since given her blessing.

Emily has been a controversial addition to the band (Picture: Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

Bennington’s mother had some choice words about the reunion (Picture: AP/Invision)

On top of this, she added that Mike had once told Bennington that he thought their songs would sound better with a female vocalist, which ‘hurt’ the late singer.

‘Chester was dumbfounded and hurt,’ his mum wrote. ‘And the fact is that now they did it. So, of course, all that comes right back into my mind.’

Her opinion on Emily’s singing was a rather scathing one, calling it ‘screeching’, however, fans so far seem impressed by the tour with no major complaints.

Linkin Park has not addressed Susan’s comments but did release a statement from Emily on her previous support of the convicted That 70s Show actor.

Mike said this was simply a natural progression from writing songs with Emily (Picture: Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

Bennington’s death is still a huge loss for fans (Picture: Victor Chavez/WireImage)

She wrote: ‘I always try to see the good in people, and I misjudged him. I have never spoken with him since. Unimaginable details emerged and he was later found guilty.

‘To say it as clearly as possible: I do not condone the abuse or violence against women, and I empathise with the victims of these crimes.’

Linkin Park has not ignored the Bennington-shaped hole in their lineup, with a tribute to him in their live-streamed launch concert.

Movingly, Mike said to the crowd: ‘My name is Mike, this is Emily, and in the role of Chester Bennington this afternoon is each of you. Are you ready to sing with us?’

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