Music

Eagles of Death Metal singer says the Bataclan was involved in Paris attacks

by Jeremy Mersereau

Earlier this week, Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes made some controversial comments about Parisian venue the Bataclan, the site of a terrorist attack during his band’s performance on November 13th, 2015 in which 89 people lost their lives.

“Out of respect for the police still investigating, I won’t make a definite statement, but I’ll say it seems rather obvious that they had a reason not to show up,” Hughes said during an interview with Fox Business Network, insinuating that members of the venue’s security team somehow had prior knowledge about the impending attack.

The owners of the Bataclan have now responded to his comments. “Jesse Hughes spread some very grave and defamatory accusations against the Bataclan teams,” a statement from a venue representative said, as reported by Variety. The statement, which also calls Hughes’ theory “insane”, continues:

“A judicial investigation is undergoing. We wish to let justice proceed serenely. All the testimonies gathered to this day demonstrate the professionalism and courage of the security agents who were on the ground on November 13. Hundreds of people were saved thanks to [these agents’] intervention.”

This isn’t the first controversial take Hughes has had about the terror attack he was unfortunately present at: last month, the singer said in an interview with TV news channel iTele that French gun control laws were partially to blame for the effectiveness of the terrorist attacks.

“I think the only way that my mind has been changed is that maybe that until nobody has guns, everybody has to have them” Hughes said.