Linkin Park on Thursday announced plans to reform and play their first shows since the tragic death of Chester Bennington, the band’s frontman, in 2017.
The band also announced a new album, From Zero, and dropped their first new song in seven years, “The Emptiness Machine,” which features the group’s new members, Colin Brittain on drums and co-vocalist Emily Armstrong. The inclusion of Armstrong, the lead singer of Dead Sara, in the lineup has already proved controversial.
Some fans of the band have decried Armstrong’s alleged links to the Church of Scientology. In 2013, she was photographed attending an event at the church’s “celebrity center” in Hollywood. A press release at the time from the church’s official media resource center said the event was attended by more than 1,000 guests, among them “prominent members of the Church,” including Armstrong.
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It’s not clear what, if any, connection Armstrong still has with the organization. But her alleged support for another Scientologist is also causing controversy among Linkin Park’s fanbase.
According to The Underground Bunker—a blog about Scientology written by journalist Tony Ortega—Armstrong was one of several people who showed up to court during the 2020 legal proceedings against Danny Masterson, the That 70s Show actor who was ultimately convicted in 2023 on two counts of rape. The blog described Armstrong as one of “Masterson’s longtime friends” who was unable to enter the courtroom due to social distancing methods at the time.
The Daily Beast has contacted Linkin Park’s representatives for comment.
The photograph of Armstrong at the celebrity center shows her alongside Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the lead singer of The Mars Volta. Bixler-Zavala was once a member of the Church of Scientology but has since left, becoming an outspoken critic of the church.
His wife, Chrissie Carnell Bixler—who is also a former Scientologist—was one of four women who accused Masterson of sexual wrongdoing, though he was ultimately not convicted over her allegation of rape due to a hung jury in 2023. At the time, she told Rolling Stone in a statement that she was “devastated” that Masterson had “dodged criminal accountability for his heinous conduct” against her. He was found guilty on two other counts of rape and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.
Carnell Bixler and her husband both also accused Scientology of running a harassment campaign against them after it emerged that she was one of Masterson’s accusers, with Bixler-Zavala even alleging that the church was responsible for killing his dog.
According to Stereogum, Bixler-Zavala posted on his Instagram story Thursday a comment that he’d previously made to Dead Sara’s account about Armstrong’s alleged support for Masterson.
“I’m surprised none of you wrote a letter on Danny Mastersons behalf since your corny ass singer showed up to support him in the prelims. Remember Emily?” the comment reportedly read in part. It also allegedly asked if her “fans know about your friend Danny Masterson? Your rapist friend.”
