Linkin Park’s night of celebration at the American Music Awards amidst ongoing grieving came to an unfortunately quick end. The band was awarded the title of Best Alternative Rock act at this year’s ceremony, beating out the likes of Imagine Dragons and Twenty One Pilots, however, this wasn’t enough to convince security to keep the band on the premises.
The band took to the stage to accept the honour, with Mike Shinoda saying, “We want to dedicate this award to him and his family, his talent, his humor, to his joy. And remember you guys, all of you, tonight, whether you’re a fan or an artist, I want you guys to take a moment to appreciate what you got, and make Chester proud.”
Check out some of the speech below:
"We want to dedicate this award to Chester, to his memory, to his talent" Favorite Artist – Alternative Rock goes to @linkinpark! ♥️ #AMAs pic.twitter.com/KB0vKXdTJ5
— American Music Awards (@AMAs) November 20, 2017
Just moments after the band made this heartfelt tribute, Mike Shinoda took to his Instagram story to detail how the band ‘were not allowed to re-enter event’ after winning and were escorted out of the event by the LA police department. Apparently, the band was given the ‘wrong credentials’ that allowed them to remain in the audience at the event – does holding the title as one of the highest selling and influential rock acts of the 21st century not warrant a seat at the AMAs anymore?
Although it did seem like a tricky situation, Mike seemed to take the action in jest and documented the parts of the ceremony he did catch like meeting Post Malone and catching up with his old mate Jared Leto.
Linkin Park will also be releasing a set of live albums documenting Chester’s final performances, set for a release next month.