The family of Echosmith drummer Graham Sierota have shared a statement in response to Sierota sending DMs to Travis Barker’s 13-year-old daughter, Alabama.
Last week, it was revealed that Sierota, 20, sent Alabama Barker flirtatious messages, dating back to 2016 — when Alabama was just ten years old.
In a new statement shared with Page Six, the family of the drummer has revealed that “Graham was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. He has difficulty understanding social cues.”
The statement continued: “We have never publicly addressed this in the past, but given the events of the last few days, we feel compelled to speak out now to offer some additional context and insight into the unfortunate misunderstandings that occurred and clear up the deeply hurtful mischaracterisations of Graham.”
Sierota first reached out to Alabama in 2016, messaging her “Hi,” to which he received no response. He then followed up the message with “By the way, I’m Graham from Echosmith and I think you’re beautiful”, a message that Alabama further ignored.
In July this year, Sierota reached out to Alabama, inviting her to a family barbecue. “Ur like 40,” she responded. “I just wanted to say I really like your music and sorry for messaging and I’m 20,” Sierota explained. “OK, but u understand I’m a child?”
Alabama screenshotted this exchange and shared the message thread to her Instagram. “Hey guys ! So once again I am bringing this to your attention because I’m a 13 year old girl and he is 21 / 20 super creepy,” she wrote.
After the messages went public, Travis Barker shared a statement with The Blast. “There’s nothing cool, normal or OK about it at all”.
“When I found out a 20-year-old man was trying to get in touch with my 13-year-old daughter by filling her Instagram messages with party invites and compliments I was disgusted.
“That’s predatory behaviour and there is nothing cool, normal or OK about it at all.”
