Blessed by a Broken Heart Bassist Apologizes For Racist Joke

Dave Mustaine has been a walking quote machine this last week or so. The Megadeth chieftain has been lashing out at his record label, European music journalists and even his fellow musicians. In an Oct. 21 post on Megadeth's official forum, Mustaine chastised Blessed by a Broken Heart's bassist, Tyler Hoare, for alleged racist comments that he made.

The singer was describing the wild backstage scene in Megadeth's dressing room when he erupted, "Although some of the other bands tried to come in, (Blessed by a Broken Heart -- whose blonde band member came close to getting his ass handed to him for racist comments to and about my tech, Willie Gee -- I am glad I didn't hear or I would have another story about bodily harm)."

Noisecreep briefly spoke with BBABH's lead guitarist, Shred Sean, and he's understandably upset about the incident and says it was one big misunderstanding. "Tyler is a great guy and has an edgy sense of humor. So unless you know him well, things he says can be taken the wrong way. After the Loud Park show, my girlfriend and I stayed in Japan for a few days of vacation. When the Mustaine thing went up, I started getting tons of emails asking me what had happened. Hopefully Tyler's apology statement can clear up the confusion and everyone can move on."

The statement Sean is talking about is a press release sent out by the band last night, in which Hoare explains everything that happened that day with Megadeth's African-American guitar tech.

Here is the official statement:

Hey everyone, my name is Tyler Hoare -- I'm the "blonde guy" from Blessed By A Broken Heart. This whole incident has really taken a toll on me, because I honestly do not have one racist bone in my body. I know people always say that, but those who know me know that's the God's honest truth.

I promise you that if you talk to anyone who knows me personally, the accusation of "racist" would be the last thing that anyone would think of. Stupid, maybe, "weird sense of humor," maybe, but definitely not racist. To share with you a bit of where I'm coming from: I have a mentally handicapped foster brother who is black that I love with all my heart. My ex-girlfriend of three years is black. I am a tattoo artist, and my clients are of all races.

To Willie: I am very sorry I made you feel uncomfortable, it was not my intention AT ALL. If you knew me, you would know that I joke around alot and say stupid things, but a racist I am not. I guess I overstepped my boundaries because I didn't know you that well, but it's only because I felt really comfortable hanging with you.

For those of you who've read enough, please know that I apologize to Willie, who was nothing but super-cool to me, and anyone else in the crew that may have been offended. I hope this will serve to clear things up. For those of you who want to know how one thing led to another, the details are below.

Sincerely,
Tyler

Here is his explanation of the incident:

When we got to the venue and started setting up, Megadeth was doing a sound check on the same stage where we would play. I noticed that their guitar tech was black and actually thought to myself that that was sweet, because we don't see many black guys in the metal scene. I went over, shook Willie's hand and chatted a bit. Later, we started talking and I brought up that South Park episode where Cartman is trying to form a band. Willie was familiar with it, and we laughed together about it, and I was like, "You should be a bass tech." I was making fun of the stereotype, which was also done in South Park. In no way do I think black people cant play guitar – that's just crazy, obviously!

We continued to chat and hang for another 5-10 minutes, and I was not getting a vibe that I had offended, or I would have straight out told him "sorry dude." I was just making a joke, making fun of people that have these stereotypes.

I'm sorry that this got misconstrued, or overheard by folks who did not understand the context of our conversation, or the fact that I am sometimes, indeed, a little 'stupid.'