Twitter reacts to Mumford & Sons' Winston Marshall praising 'brave' right-wing agitator Andy Ngo

Music
08 Mar 21

The Mumford & Sons band member has since deleted his original tweet.

The banjo player and lead guitarist from Mumford & Sons has come under fire online for praising right-wing writer Andy Ngo.

Ngo's recent book, Unmasked reportedly promises to take the reader "inside ANTIFA’s radical plan to destroy democracy”. Ngo has been associated with neo-fascist white nationalist group the Proud Boys in the past, and in the book calls the Proud Boys a “pro-Trump fraternity” while referring to left-wing activists as a “marauding gang” whose mission is to “destroy the nation-state, America in particular”.

In a since-deleted tweet, Marshall wrote: "Finally had the time to read your important book. You're a brave man."

I honest to god called “Mumford and Sons will go fash” a decade ago pic.twitter.com/WDRfLQqxRV

— jeff dirt (@muttgomery) March 7, 2021

Twitter users have been weighing in on the tweet since yesterday, with some users calling for Marshall to be removed from the band, saying: "He's not representative of the whole band, but the silence from Mumford & Sons has gone on too long. #AdoptANewBanjoPlayer

One of my favorite bands is trending bc the banjo player once again made it clear he likes fascist propaganda. He's not representative of the whole band, but the silence from Mumford & Sons on this has gone on too long. #AdoptANewBanjoPlayer

— Niki Hancock (@HancockNiki) March 7, 2021

i knew mumford and sons were narcs by the way he over articulated the word fucked in that one song

— hyper relevisation (@Eve6) March 7, 2021

This is not the first time that Marshall and the band have been seen supporting right-wing figures. In 2018, they invited Canadian academic Jordan Peterson to their studio in London Peterson has been widely accused of transphobia, misogyny and Islamaphobia. At the time, Marshall told a Canadian radio station: "I don’t think that having a photograph with someone means you agree with everything they say. Primarily I’m interested in his psychological stuff, which I find very interesting."