Cursed Earth boot vocalist mid-tour following "disturbing and unacceptable online speech"

Perth hardcore savants Cursed Earth have announced on Instagram that they’ve booted their current touring vocalist from the fold mid-tour.

The band were forthcoming with their decision, revealing in a post that they had made the choice after they discovered their now-former vocalist had allegedly been engaging in misogynistic banter in a private group.

Currently touring Australia in support of their latest release, The Deathbed Sessions, Cursed Earth (who are officially sans a permanent vocalist) had previously tagged Cast Down frontman Jack McDonald to handle the mic.

However, as they approached the Brisbane date of the run, the band were made aware of a series of screenshots from the private group chat in which McDonald is reportedly a member, that were made public.

While the screenshots have largely been removed from the digital realm, the band have described the contents of the private conversation as “disturbing and unacceptable.”

“As some of you may already know 2 days ago we found evidence of some disturbing and unacceptable online speech by the guy we had filling in for our Tyranny Around Australia tour. He’s been sent home.”

There has been no statement made from McDonald or Cast Down, however Cast Down’s Facebook page has been removed.

View this post on Instagram
As some of you may already know 2 days ago we found evidence of some disturbing and unacceptable online speech by the guy we had filling in for our Tyranny Around Australia tour. He’s been sent home. Our friend and Justice for the Damned bandmate @bobaaak agreed immediately to fill in on this tour on 2 days notice and we can’t thank him enough. Without him we would never have been able to go ahead. We are still looking for a vocalist, If you think you’re the person for the job, I’d come down and give Bobby a hand with the mic and come say hi to us at the merch desk. We put a lot of effort into putting together our favourite CE set yet, so we want to use it to celebrate the real ones who have been there to pick us up every time we’ve been kicked down.
A post shared by CURSED EARTH (@cursedperth) on Jul 17, 2019 at 4:13am PDT

Cursed Earth did confirm that the show will go on however, now with the assistance of Justice For The Damned vocalist Bobak Rafiee taking up the mantle at a moment’s notice.

“Without him we would never have been able to go ahead,” the band said in the post.

“We are still looking for a vocalist, if you think you’re the person for the job, I’d come down and give Bobby a hand with the mic and come say hi to us at the merch desk.

“We put a lot of effort into putting together our favourite CE set yet, so we want to use it to celebrate the real ones who have been there to pick us up every time we’ve been kicked down.”

The swift action from Cursed Earth is both commendable and unsurprising. Throughout the band’s short but exciting career, they’ve split with two vocalists now, the first being Jazmine Luders who parted ways with the group following continuous allegations of verbal abuse in 2018.

“We’ve always taken pride in this band providing a lifeline from Jaz’s dysfunctional home life and giving her something to work towards,” Cursed Earth said in a statement at the time.

“Unfortunately this personal growth is now something she will have to approach alone and we hope that this will be a catalyst for that.”

Check out the remaining dates of Cursed Earth’s current tour below.