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Ronnie Winter of The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus releases additional statement about banning Trump supporters from their live shows
Ronnie Winter, the frontman for The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, elaborated on his declaration over the weekend that anybody who voted for current U.S. President Donald J. Trump are not welcome at the band’s performances in a series of livestreamed videos aired this past Monday, June 16. A wave of controversy began when he made his first contentious speech, informing Trump supporters they were not welcome. Winter continued by calling his anti-Trump remarks a “charade,” exposing that they were a part of a scheme he devised to share his opinions on what he called his “obsession with fixing Christianity.”
I realize that you all thought this was about Trump, and I think that it probably did turn into that at some point. I’m sure it’s because I said his name. But the reason why I said his name, which God knows, is not why you think. And everything that I’ve done since when is not what you think. So if you’ve been suspicious because this seems out of character, you win. This is what it looks like when somebody is so desperate to reach the lost that they will literally do anything to be heard. And like everybody has said, many, many, many, many times, I’m not a big deal. Nobody knows who I am. I don’t know how many times that was written, but it was a lot. I’m agreeing with you. One song, right? All of that, you’re telling the truth. So if I want to be heard, what do I have to do? I something drastic. That’s what happens. That’s how you make a splash out here in the wild USA. Hmm, the truth is I was sent a message when I was asleep, and I woke up and I read it, and it was from a Christian, and it was really hurtful and painful, and that person is in my family. Sometimes they tag me photos and stuff. So I’m like, ‘Whoa’, you know, ‘whoa.’ And… they are a very, very pronounced Christian, like, it’s all the way, you know what I mean? So I just kind of lost it, man. But I didn’t want to put that person on blast, because it didn’t feel right, and also it wouldn’t make anybody listen to me that I wanted to help. It would just be me being mad at one of my family members, you know, which is not a big deal. I can just get over that, right? But it got me thinking. It got me thinking about everything that’s wrong with Christians. I wasn’t actually thinking about Trump, but the image that they sent me was pro-Trump. I’ll just say that it wasn’t even him, but, I mean, I’ll share it if you guys want to see it. It made me crazy, man, because I’ve been spending the last 10 years trying to tell all of my friends who are homosexual, or, let’s just say, they don’t fit what I’m going to start calling the ‘God box’ — which is a series of rules and limitations that we’ve put on our understanding of God. I don’t have a picture of God. I’ve never seen him before, have you, Christian? I told you this was never about Trump. No, I mean, that’s what set me off, but everybody knows. I mean, I don’t like him or whatever, but come on, guys, just go back in time and watch my video. Something changed a couple days ago. This is what happened. I’m telling you the truth, like always. So to catch you up, my relative sent me something. [It] Spun me out. I made the video. Right before I made it though I thought, you know, this is, this is maybe an opportunity, don’t want to miss it here. So this is how I feel… Well, something interesting is going to happen when people watch this video. Most people won’t make it all the way to the end, right? They’re just going to jump to the comments. But if you make it to the end, as you can see, I’m breathing a lot and going slow for a reason, I want you to have to make it to the end. Right? The end is this: unless you can show me a picture of God that I haven’t seen, unless you can show me his, like, rule book that he signed, unless you can show me anything, anything, other than a book that is, you know a book telling me what God is and who he loves and doesn’t love, and who goes to heaven and doesn’t go to heaven; That’s your God. That’s your small, weak God and your God box. That’s what I’ve been so mad about. All the people that you’ve driven away from the beginning of time till now. So many people that God loved lived their whole life thinking either that something was wrong with them, or that God didn’t love them. Because the only God that they were exposed to was the God from your God box, the limited one. The one that only loves straight people, or to some of you, the one that only loves white people, or to some of you the only one that loves people who didn’t vote for Trump, which was the example I was using. You can come to my show if you want, man. I just didn’t think that you would enjoy it. Genuinely. You know, just trying to be real with you. I didn’t know that you guys were gonna get THAT mad.
Winter spoke about what he thought the problem was.
I have a problem with mainstream Christianity and that problem is that they think know who God is, and they think they know what his rules are and all that. But what if I like to listen to Marilyn Manson? Does it mean I’m going to hell? I don’t think so man, not my God. So I just wanted to take an opportunity to invite everybody on planet earth that has ever felt left out or left behind, that ever felt like Jesus or God didn’t care about them. I want you to know the truth. The truth is they don’t know who God is. They never have and they never will, neither will I. So how can I tell you who he does and doesn’t forgive? How can I tell you what his rules are? How can I tell you anything about him? Really? I can’t, so I’m not gonna. I’m just gonna tell you that my relationship with him is amazing. It really is. Because of him I love everyone. Even you MAGAs. I do love you, equal, just as much as the non-MAGAs. The SAUL TO PAUL 1/2/3 take away is this. GOD’s invitation of LOVE into its heavenly kingdom, is open to EVERYONE. Let’s stop trying to manipulate the Heavenly Fathers invitation. For a second didn’t it feel weird to not be invited to our events? Let it sink in guys. Obviously EVERYONE is invited to our events but leave the dividing topics out.