Former Vulvodynia vocalist Zion Bittenbender has issued a statement, outlining his side of his recent firing from the South American brutal death metal/deathcore outfit. Bittenbender‘s time fronting the group proved to be brief, as he faced unsettling allegations roughly a day after being announced as the newest member of the band.
Vulvodynia would go on to keep Bittenbender in place, as he publicly denied the allegations, stating they were “completely untrue”. With public backlash ensuing however, Bittenbender went on to step down from singing for the band days afterward, indicating he wanted to address the allegations via proper legal channels.
This past February saw Vulvodynia vacate their spot on a spring North American tour with Defeated Sanity, a move they did not fully address publicly. Earlier this week on March 03rd, the group then announced that they had parted ways with Bittenbender. Their statement read:
“We would like to apologize for the delay in addressing this situation. We took time to step back and carefully consider the appropriate course of action. After serious internal discussion, we have decided to part ways with Zion. We will also no longer be participating in the upcoming US tour with Defeated Sanity.
We take allegations of sexual misconduct extremely seriously. Our priority is maintaining an environment that reflects our values and respects our fans, peers, and the wider community. After careful consideration of the circumstances, we believe this decision is in the best interest of the band moving forward.
We also acknowledge that aspects of how this was initially handled were not managed in the way they should have been, and we sincerely apologize. We will now begin the process of finding a new vocalist. Details regarding auditions will be shared soon. In the meantime, Lwandile will be handling vocal duties for our remaining shows this year.
We appreciate the patience of our fans and remain committed to moving forward with focus and integrity.”
Speaking today, March 07th, Bittenbender has shared his side of his firing and the impact the disputed allegations have had behind the scenes. Bittenbender‘s post (see below) features numerous screencaps of internal band conversations which he used to outline his version of events.
In it, he claims that while Vulvodynia internally expressed their belief of him being innocent of the allegations, the negative publicity attached to them went on to cause the band to distance themselves from him, before ultimately firing him.
Some key elements of Bittenbender‘s post read as follows:
“I didn’t want to have to make this post but I have to defend myself regarding Vulvodynia‘s statement
about removing me from the band.Firstly, I want to talk about the Defeated Sanity tour. This is a message from Vulvodynia‘s manager Lyn. It states that we got removed the tour purely on a business decision and risk of losing money.”
That statement he posted from the band’s management outlined that the group were removed from the Defeated Sanity tour amid pushback from venues and promoters on the run over Bittenbender‘s involvement. The text indicated that should such cancelations go forward, the band and their agent could stand to face significant financial losses.
A further email from the band’s booking agent was republished as well, it outlined that Bittenbender‘s involvement and the negative publicity around him was causing problems, with venues threating to cancel the tour.
Bittenbender offered of that, “”Here is another email from Liam Frith explaining that if Vulvodynia removed me they would still be on the tour. Vulvodynia only got kicked from the tour because they knew I was innocent and stood up for me.”
Bittenbender further went on to provide audio of a bandmate claiming they know he was innocent of the allegations, but that potential financial losses were giving people involved in the band’s camp cold feet. Bittenbender went on to say:
“I was waiting on the band to make a statement about the situation. We were advised to say nothing until a plan was made.”
He then went on to share a screencap an unreleased statement that he claims the band drafted regarding their exit from the Defeated Sanity tour, but ultimately declined to release. That statement in part read:
‘Unfortunately as you may have noticed, we have been dropped from the defeated sanity tour. This was out of our control. For transparency, this decision was made after venues threatened to cancel the shows as a result of false rumors spread about our new vocalist Zion.‘
Zion said in this Instagram post about this:
“For reference this was the statement Vulvodynia was going to post about the situation but never ended up posting it. We agreed to all vote on a statement and this was the one the majority of us agreed upon.”
After then going on to show a screencap from the band’s guitarist Luke Haarhoff commenting publicly on Instagram that the band were “standing by their completely innocent friend,” Bittenbender stated:
“I waited roughly 2 weeks and nobody gave me updates and no statement was made.
They started to remove themselves from tagged posts with me and distance themselves so that it looked like the had no association with me so they could get future tours/shows Ect.”
“About a week or so after, the band wanted to jump in a video call to discuss some things.
In this call I was informed that I was to part ways with the band.
They stated that the backlash from everything scared management and venues enough that it caused to much of a financial loss for the band that they can’t recover from if I were to remain an active member.”
“In the video chat we came to an agreement that the band would not post a statement until we all agreed of what it entailed.
I waiting weeks for a statement and nothing came of it.”
“A day later, Luke messages me this explaining that the decision was a business decision and that he would defend me if anyone talks bad on my name.”
“I was tired of waiting and nobody was man enough to make a statement on the matter.”
‘For those who are wondering yes I’m no longer in Vulvodynia.
The community is a shit show and scared management enough to get me removed/ cancled.
Nobody is man enough to post a statement and just say what happened.
Im still here, it’s not a big deal to me. New music coming, fuck em all‘
I posted this on my story in annoyance of the metal community as a whole. Unfortunately Vulvodynia took this as a personal attack and proceeded to block me on everything.”
“2 days later Vulvodynia posted a statement that was never agreed upon as they said they would.
I have since been blocked by everyone in the band.”
“For the foreseeable future, I will be continuing as buisness as usual working on projects and covers.
I appreciate Vulvodynia for the experience and opportunity they gave me.
I just wanted to come on here to provide answers.”
