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The Internet Is Written In Ink

I Let You Down: Henry Rollins Apologizes for Being a Dick

He's sorry, you guys.

Last week, punk rock’s favorite square-headed talking guy made some pretty obtuse and sociopathic comments about depression and suicide following Robin Williams' death in his LA Weekly column and boy oh boy did people not care for them. Among his opinions was the notion that once someone chooses to commit suicide, he can “no longer take this person seriously.” Rollins was promptly inundated with tweets, comments, emails, and apparently letters (because people still send those?) from fans and non-fans, the gist of most of them being: Hey fuck you, asshole.

Annoncering

Over the weekend, Rollins apologized on his blog and promised a new column clarifying the matter in LA Weekly today. As promised, today’s column, “More Thoughts on Suicide” explains things a little further.

“I cannot defend the views I expressed. I think that would be taking an easy out. I put them out there plainly and must suffer the slings and arrows — fair enough,” he says, before going on to express that his views on suicide are still evolving, and that the letters he’s been receiving, as scathing as they are, have been helping him understand the matter better.

So that’s that—stupid thing said, corresponding outrage expressed, apology issued. The internet circle of life. Now you, the reader, can make the personal decision as to whether or not you can accept his apology and move past it. Or you can continue to be angry with Hank and throw popcorn at the screen anytime you see him sitting in front of his record collection, waxing philosophical on some rock doc or making an appearance in a movie, playing a cop, or security guard, or corrections officer, or another kind of cop.

But here’s the thing about being a writer, especially one whose opinion is published on the internet: It’s a tough gig. Your opinion on any given day lives online in internet ink forever and ever. Even if your viewpoint does change and evolve, as Rollins says his is doing, you’re forever bound to your initial take.

Annoncering

So while you’re totally entitled to continue believing that Rollins is a total dick who shouldn’t be penning columns about subjects he doesn’t know shit about (even though he did sing a song about depression having a hold of him before most of you were born), maybe cut him some slack for at least hearing out you, the angry public of the internet, and trying to make his opinion better. I'm personally going to accept it and move on. Mainly because for many who grew up with punk and hardcore, for better or worse, Rollins has been this stubborn, omnipresent figure who occasionally makes a decent point somewhere between the eyeroll-worthy comments. He wasn't trolling on this, his opinion was just thick-headed and misguided. Also because I get a kick out of randomly seeing him on TV doing shit like this:

Of course, that’s just my opinion. You can expect my apology tomorrow.

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