YUNGBLUD/Activism

## March For Our Lives

On 24 March 2018, YUNGBLUD attended the March for Our Lives rally, a student-led demonstration rally against gun violence after the events of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. He streamed 3 minutes of his attendance live to Facebook and was filmed using a megaphone to speak through while walking amongst other people.

## Black Lives Matter

On 30 May 2020, YUNGBLUD attended 4 days of the George Floyd protests for Black Lives Matter in California. On the first three days he attended with his ex-girlfriend, Halsey, on the fourth day he attended with Machine Gun Kelly and Mod Sun. He attended a Pan Pacific protest with Halsey, which she live streamed 26 minutes of on her Instagram. The next day, 31 May 2020, they attended a Santa Monica protest, which they both had prepared to be medics, with first aid kits, for emergency medical assistance for protestors shot by "non-lethal" rubber bullets. He later praised her on Twitter for being *"selfless"*, *"brave"* and *"fearless"* while providing medical care to protestors, and she returned the praise on Twitter, and personally thanked him for running *"exposed in front of rounds being shot to drag wounded people to safety without even thinking twice."*. They attended a protest on 2 June 2020, but did not say where they were going. Elijah Daniel live-streamed on Instagram, and stated that he was going to meet up with them, who he mentioned were at the Hollywood and Vine protest, as they had the medical kits and people were being shot at. They were also photographed attending the protest at the intersection. On the fourth day, 3 June 2020, he attended a protest in Los Angeles with Machine Gun Kelly and Mod Sun.

## US capitol storming

During the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, he expressed his feelings and tweeted that he was sad, heartbroken and praying for everyone's safety. He also compared the lack of police aggression to the severe aggression during the George Floyd protests, stating *"the protests happening months ago fighting for basic human rights faced severe police brutality for not even a fraction of the aggression."*.

## Sexual assault and abuse

Evan Rachel Wood—actress, sexual assault survivor and activist-named her abuser as Brian Wood-more commonly known as Marilyn Manson—and said that she had been groomed by him as a teenager and then suffered severe emotional, sexual, physical and mental abuse from him. In some brands Instagram posts YUNGBLUD wore Manson merch in a few performances that were due to premiere later. YUNGBLUD expressed in a tweet that he was a fan of Manson and that although he was largely inspired by him growing up, *"any abuser must be held accountable"*. He subsequently deleted his own Instagram posts of himself wearing Mansons' merch and un-followed Manson on Instagram and Twitter. Two days later YUNGBLUD announced that he had burnt the Manson t-shirt.

## DaBaby's homophobic statement at Rolling Loud

American rapper DaBaby made a speech that included homophobia, misogyny, and a factually inaccurate statement about people living with HIV/AIDS at *Rolling Loud* musical festival in Miami in July 2021. It was met with angry responses and backlash on social media and responses from artists in the music industry. YUNGBLUD un-followed him, and issued a statement on Twitter and Instagram, joining artists that condemned DaBaby's actions, and then explained to a fan that he had been doing rehearsals for a week and wasn't made aware of the news immediately.

## Climate change

In November 2021, YUNGBLUD was featured as a guest in Season 2 Episode 1 of a series called *Nando's Booth Truths*, the concept is to sit people down and talk about climate change as they eat. He was featured alongside Jack Saunders, Bimini Bon Boulash, and Angel Arutura. They talked about sustainability, fast fashion, eco-anxiety, and the steps people can take to make help fight climate change. In 2022, YUNGBLUD was featured in a documentary on climate change - "OVERHEATED", in reference to the Earth overheating. The documetary is yet-to-be released, in the trailer it is announced that among other people, YUNGBLUD will be in it as a guest.

## Russia-Ukraine crisis

On 28 February 2022, YUNGBLUD cancelled his Russian shows on his Life On Mars Tour, due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. He stated: "I’m heartbroken to announce I will be cancelling my Russian shows scheduled for this summer, heartbroken because I know the vicious and brutal acts of the Russian regime in Ukraine over the past week do not reflect the attitudes and ideals of the beautiful people who I have met in Russia in the past! My heart is with you – you’ve already shown such strength and determination, resisting this needless invasion. Everyone deserves to be the creator of their own destiny, rather than having it forced upon them by acts of war and aggression. Ukraine, I promise I’ll come back as soon as I can!

## Brianna Ghey

In February 2023, Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old British transgender girl from Birchwood in Warrington, Cheshire, England was killed in Culcheth Linear Park in Culcheth, Warrington. YUNGBLUD tweeted out "utterly heartbroken about the death of 16 year old brianna ghey. protect trans kids every day and fight relentlessly against anti-trans sentiment & legislations being pushed by our heinous government . rest in peace brianna ghey"

## References

1. ↑ Facebook — "Yungblud was live — "March for our lives"" (24 March 2018)
2. ↑ YUNGBLUD on Twitter: "see you at pan pacific park. bring your fuckin voice."" (30 May 2020)
3. ↑ YouTube — "HALSEY LIVE 5/30/20 - DEMONSTRATION GEORGE FLOYD" (31 May 2020)
4. ↑ YUNGBLUD on Twitter: "see you in santa monica. keep shouting" (31 May 2020)
5. ↑ Metro — "Yungblud and Halsey give first aid to injured protestors in Santa Monica" (1 June 2020)
6. ↑ Capital FM — "Halsey And Yungblud Among Protestors 'Fired At With Rubber Bullets' During Justice Rally In LA" (1 June 2020)
7. ↑ YouTube — "Elijah Daniel LA protest sunset march livestream from 6/2/20" (2 June 2020)
8. ↑ Hawt Celebs — "HALSEY and Yungblud at Black Lives Matter Protest in Los Angeles 06/02/2020" (2 June 2020)
9. ↑ Daily Mail — "Machine Gun Kelly joins a Black Lives Matter protest in Downtown Los Angeles with his friends Mod Sun and Yungblud" (5 June 2020)
10. ↑ YUNGBLUD on Twitter: "it is so sad to me watching the far right break into the capitol building. the protests happening months ago fighting for basic human rights faced severe police brutality for not even a fraction of the aggression. it is truly heartbreaking. im praying for the safety of everybody." (6 January 2021)
11. ↑ Vanity Fair — "He “Horrifically Abused Me for Years”: Evan Rachel Wood and Other Women Make Allegations of Abuse Against Marilyn Manson" *(1 February 2021)*
12. ↑ YUNGBLUD's on mars on Twitter: "the news about Manson has hurt me so bad. to learn such information about a person who inspired you so much has really hurt me. we cannot stand for this. any abuser should be held accountable." *(2 February 2021)*
13. ↑ YUNGBLUD's on mars on Twitter: "my “live me if you can” session goes live at 7pm\*\* french time! (please disregard my t shirt, i have since burnt it. this was recorded weeks ago. you know where i stand on abuse and i am so heartbroken.) however, i hope you can enjoy the show. love u" *(4 February 2021)*
14. ↑ Miami New Times — "DaBaby's Set at Rolling Loud Was Indicative of Rap's Problem with Women and Queer People". Published 26 July 2021. Written by Alan Halaly.
15. ↑ Complex — "DaBaby Receives Backlash for Homophobic Comments While Performing at Rolling Loud Miami (UPDATE)". Published 26 July 2021. Written by Joe Price.
16. ↑ TODAY — "Elton John, other celebrities respond to rapper DaBaby after anti-gay comments go viral". Published 28 July 2021. Written by Alexander Kacala.
17. ↑ YUNGBLUD's on mars (@yungblud) on Twitter — "fucking moron." Posted 28 July 2021.
 (Archive)
18. ↑ YUNGBLUD's on mars (@yungblud) on Twitter — "head been in rehearsals all week ... followed him a while ago as i thought his tunes were alright but forgot i was was following him. when i saw this i was absolutely disgusted so i spoke up. thankyou for bringing it up. just unfollowed him. fuck that dude. spread love." Posted 28 July 2021.
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19. ↑ YouTube (Nando's UK) — "Nando's Booth Truths S2 Ep.1 with Yungblud, Bimini Bon Boulash, Jack Saunders, Angel Arutura". Published 11 November 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
20. ↑ NME — "Billie Eilish stars alongside Emily Eavis, Yungblud and more in new ‘Overheated’ climate change documentary". Published 10 June 2022. Written by Will Richards. Retrieved 10 June 2022. Archived
21. ↑ YouTube (Sage Foundation) — "OVERHEATED THE DOCUMENTARY, a Sage Foundation film for a critically overheating planet". Published 9 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
22. ↑ Billboard — "Yungblud Cancels Russian Shows, Stands With Ukraine: ‘My Heart Is With You’". Published 28 February 2022. Written by Rania Aniftos. Retrieved 10 June 2022. Archived
23. ↑ YUNGBLUD (@yungblud) on Twitter — "{{{title}}}" Posted 13 February 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023. Archived
24. ↑ NME — "Yungblud, entertainment world and more pay tribute to murdered trans girl Brianna Ghey, aged 16". Published 13 February 2023. Written by Damian Jones. Retrieved 4 May 2023. Archived