Phoebe Bridgers of Boygenius has hit out at online trolls who make comments about her body online, and use social media to “actively embarrass themselves.”
READ MORE: Boygenius – ‘The Rest’ EP: a magical coda to their mega year
The singer, songwriter and guitarist spoke out about the slew of nasty comments she and her bandmates receive online in a new interview with GQ, and stated that she finds it “fucking embarrassing” how people actually take to social media to make comments about their appearance.
The topic arose when the band were asked about their set at Belgium’s Pukkelpop festival in August, when Bridgers ripped her shirt open and revealed her bare chest.
Bandmate Lucy Dacus then followed suit, and the two spun around on stage together before falling to the floor. After it happened, discussion of the moment spread across social media, with some users criticising the musicians for what they saw as public indecency.
“Twitter’s dead and everyone who’s actively using Twitter is, I think, fucking embarrassing themselves,” said Bridgers, reflecting on the comments. “It’s owned by the richest man in the world; it’s called ‘X’ now; it’s not freedom of information. It is… ridiculous, in my opinion.”
She continued: “It just makes me sad for people to be screaming about our bodies, because it doesn’t fucking matter to us, but to someone at [our] show, it matters. Like, I’m laughing at some internet comments or whatever and it’s like, ‘Wait, this is destroying someone who it really matters to.’”
‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ and musical guest boygenius during Tuesday’s October 3, 2023 show. CREDIT: Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images
Dacus chimed in, saying that the moment on stage was “euphoric” and “felt great physically”.
“Personally, having [had] my body be a plaything at past points in my life for people, and getting mistreated and assaulted… Having a good time doing something like that is amazing,” she explained. “But I don’t need that to be the reason why it’s cool. It should be cool outside of [my personal] history. But also, personally for me, that fucking rocked. So everyone can eat a dick.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the band also reflected on how they want to unite fans who come from a minority, and continuously use their platform to highlight social and political issues they see.
“That is what makes [the job] meaningful to me,” said Julien Baker. “To be away from my family when they need me to be there, to be doing things that I find inane or self-serving. I’m like, ‘Dang, look at all those kids’. Like, actually, there’s 25,000 little gay kids out there who’ve heard us talk about things like: be inside of your life. Pay attention to your friends. It’s worth it to live.”
In other Boygenius news, earlier this week it was revealed that the group were among the artists leading BBC Radio 6 Music’s inaugural Artists Of The Year.
Similarly, their new EP ‘The Rest’ was shared last month, and went on to receive a four-star review from NME. In the review, Thomas Smith described the four-track release as both “compelling” and showcasing some of the “most expansive tracks in their catalogue” so far.
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