Winston Marshall, 34, a former member of Mumford & Sons, claims he “got his soul back” after leaving the band.
Winston Marshall, the former banjo player and guitarist for Mumford & Sons, claims he has “lost many friends” and has been “condemned” by other musicians as a result of his controversial tweets in 2021, which led to his departure from the successful rock band.
Marshall was a founding member of the folk-rock band in 2007 but received criticism after praising the book Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan To Destroy Democracy by infamous US journalist Andy Ngo.
Marshall praised Ngo as a “brave man” in a since-deleted tweet, calling the book “important.” He took a hiatus from Mumford & Sons at first, but he left three months later.
Marshall left Mumford & Sons in June 2021, claiming a “difficult decision first brought about by an unintentional Twitter storm.”
That controversy started in March when Marshall congratulated notorious conservative writer Andy Ngo on his new book about Antifa, the far-left anti-fascist movement.
“Congratulations @MrAndyNgo,” Marshall said in a tweet that he later deleted.“Finally had the time to read your important book. You’re a brave man.”
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“I’ve met a few other people who have been canceled, whatever that means, and they’re talking about a few years later people who were part of the mob getting in touch and saying, ‘Hey mate, are you around?’ They helped destroy your life, but it’s done so casually that they don’t even remember,” Winston Marshall said. “I was amazed at how other artists judged me. I’ve lost a lot of friends.”
Marshall and the rest of the band received backlash as a result of his tweet. While he quickly apologized, the damage had already been done. He says he had trouble sleeping and lost weight during the repercussions, and he reverted to practicing Christianity.
He eventually came to re-think his decision to apologize.“Your initial reaction is ‘I’m so sorry I’ve offended you,’” Marshall told the Sunday Times Magazine. “I apologized because I felt like maybe I don’t understand this topic fully, and I need to understand it.”
“As I continued to research, I felt more and more that I’d participated in a lie,” he added. “That really affected my conscience. … Those few months between apologizing and quitting were psychologically very traumatizing.”
His bandmates were equally annoyed that their friend’s comments had drawn them into the debate.
He said, “They were getting dragged under the bus with me; that was a horrible experience for them.”
Winston Marshall said in a statement, “What a blessing it was to be so close to such talent as those three lads. I will look back at it all with immense pride and love. However, after much reflection and consideration, I have decided it is time to move on. This is a difficult decision first brought about by an unintentional Twitter storm.”
Marshall finally recognized he had to pick between the band and his newfound views. Marshall insists that he “stepped out” on his own, despite claims that he was fired from the band.
In a recent interview with The Times, he said, “I really didn’t think Antifa would end up being the hill I died on. It’s not even a topic I actually care that much about.”
He also admitted that in another statement, “I love the band, I love the music. Some of those songs I love dearly and part of me is sad that I won’t be playing them again,” but also said that he doesn’t “miss fame.”
“Obviously, artists have a right to boycott. The difference now is that it’s ‘silence him or I’m out,’” he clarified. “This feels so bizarre and I don’t think it ends well. Musicians’ careers are all about self-expression, so how can they think that’s going to work if they’re not up for people expressing themselves?”
He opted to focus on censorship, publishing an editorial for writer Bari Weiss’s Substack titled “When Artists Become the Censors.”
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Despite his new career as a blogger, Marshall claimed it was “very difficult” to leave the band he once loved.
“I imagined being in my 60s and still playing with the band,” he said. “That’s one reason it was so hard to leave. I thought we’d always be together.”
Since quitting the band, he has started the Marshall Matters podcast to “examine the taboo and totemic problems inside the creative industry.”
