Jaime Bennington, the son of the late Chester Bennington, has shared a new 4-hour video where he discusses his views on Linkin Park.
In the video, Jaime watches an interview with Mike Shinoda and Zane Lowe and criticizes Shinoda for what he claims are lies about the band’s secret plans.
“Mike goes, ‘We never just said let’s get the band back together.’ Lies, that is a flat-faced lie. You said from the moment that Chester died that you guys had intentions to be on stage,” Jaime said. “That’s why you hadn’t given Japan your clarification on what you were going to do for the tour because they were still thinking about possibly going out on the road and they had that part of their tour lined up in Japan. So they literally were talking about potentially going on the road.”
Jaime also claimed that Shinoda has been writing music since Chester’s death. “Mike was writing music the second Chester died for the Hollywood Bowl show. He played his first ‘Post Traumatic’ song by January of 2018 the EP for post-traumatic came out by June of 2018. ‘Post Traumatic’ was out and then he did a full-ass world tour and he tweeted the whole time.” Jaime added, “‘We have every intention to be in Linkin Park, Linkin Park has every intention of continuing.’ You can’t say things like that and then seven years later, be like, ‘We never said we wanted to get the band back together.'”
Jaime’s comments came shortly after he accused Shinoda of lying to fans about Linkin Park’s comeback with new singer Emily Armstrong. He shared his thoughts on Instagram, claiming that Shinoda had been planning the reunion since Chester’s death in 2017. “During the Zach Sang Show interview, Mike Shinoda revealed that, as of April 2023, he was lying about the Linkin Park comeback,” he wrote. “That, as of the ‘Already Over’ release in October 2023, Linkin Park was doing photoshoots and finalizing their album rollout. That Emily Armstrong made contact with Linkin Park in October of 2017, the week before the Hollywood Bowl Show. That, in 2019, he and Colin Brittain were looking for a new Linkin Park vocalist, and THAT is when he reached out to Emily Armstrong on his own.”
He added, “Linkin Park reincorporated the same month I had my falling out with Anna Shinoda. THEY KNEW I WAS COMING. And they got ahead of it.”
Jaime Bennington and Chester’s mother, Susan, have both publicly opposed a Linkin Park reunion, saying that Mike Shinoda has been secretly running the band since their break to erase Chester’s legacy. Shinoda has denied these claims, saying the band is simply starting a new chapter focused on the future.
Linkin Park is now preparing for a world tour to support their latest release, ‘From Zero.’ The tour will start in Mexico City on January 31, 2025.
