Flaming Lips Fire Back at Their Fired Drummer
Last week, the proverbial s--- hit the fan for the Flaming Lips, when ousted drummer Kilph Scurlock stopped short of calling band leader Wayne Coyne a racist due to his support of friend and fellow musician Christina Fallin.
The daughter of Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin, Christina fronts the band Pink Pony, which recently posted a photo of Christina in traditional Native American headdress. But she's not Native American, and her actions led to protests. In a show of support for his friend, Coyne posted a photo of other friends, as well as one of a dog, all wearing headdresses. Scurlock, who called out Coyne on social media for his support of Fallin, claimed he was fired from the band for his actions.
A week after the dust-up, Coyne is finally speaking about the matter. "The only thing that we would have to say about Kliph leaving is that he just was not very significant to us," Coyne told Rolling Stone. "And all the things he's saying about the reason he was fired, it's all just made-up lies. He knows we struggled with him for years, and it didn't occur to us that it seemed that significant. I don't even use the word 'fired.' He just doesn't play drums with us anymore – that's the way I'd put it."
Spurlock's words against Coyne have spread online over the past week, but the Lips frontman said he's sticking by Fallin. "She's still my friend," he said. "She's young. And I think she's very sorry that it all happened, and that whatever she said exploded into this thing. I think there's a lot of regret."
And as for his final take on Scurlock? "Anybody who knows him knows what kind of a hateful person he is," Coyne offered. "He's an abusive, compulsive, pathological liar that will do anything he can do get attention. And of course, using my name gets him attention."
Coyne concluded his chat with Rolling Stone by offering an apology of his own: "I would say that I'm very sorry, to anybody that is following my Instagram or my Twitter, if I offended anybody of any religion, any race, any belief system ... And I would say that if we wrongly stepped on anybody's sacredness, then we're sorry about that. That was never our intention."