Chvrches Singer Says Band Received Violent Threats From Chris Brown Fans

Chvrche say they’ve received violent threats from Chris Brown fans following their public criticism of the singer.

“To clarify, we weren’t picking on Chris Brown for the sake of picking on Chris Brown,” singer Lauren Mayberry told the crowd during a show in Texas this weekend. “It was a morally dubious decision that happened but also Chvrches is a band, Chvrches is a business, Chvrches is a brand or whatever that the people can buy into, and it has to be honest and it has to be authentic. We would be really hypocritical if we worked with somebody and didn’t say anything about what they did immediately after that fact.”

Further addressing the band’s decision to speak out against Tyga and Brown, who worked with their “Here With Me” collaborator Marshmello on “Light It Up,” Mayberry revealed she’s received violent threats from Brown fans in response to their criticism.

“I was like, I don’t know, I think that domestic abuse might be wrong,” she said. “So now I’m going to have to invest in some fucking bulletproof tutus . . . I just think that’s very interesting. In a weird way I was like, maybe don’t promote serial convicted violence to kids, to young people, and then they were like, ‘Well, you know what we’re gonna do? We’re gonna rape you and shoot you!’ I’m like, oh, I think you proved the point, though.” See video of the full moment above via TMZ.

Mayberry has also shared screenshots of violent messages she’s received on Instagram:

In a tweeted statement last week, the band said they were “upset, confused, and disappointed” by Marshmello’s decision to work with Chris Brown and Tyga. While they respect Marshmello “as a person,” they said “Light It Up” represented an example of an artist working with “people who are predators and abusers” and is thus an endorsement. “That is not something we can or will stand behind,” they said at the time.

Brown later responded to that statement, saying the band members are “the type of people I wish walked in front of a speeding bus full of mental patients.”