 My Chemical Romance have responded to claims that their music somehow inspired a 13 year-old UK girl to commit suicide. Earlier this month an inquest was held where the girl's parents and coroner Roger Sykes testified that the girl, Hannah Bond, was influenced by her love of emo music, specifically My Chemical Romance.
It was also revealed that the girl had a history of self-harm, her father said that Bond had hurt herself before and claimed that it was an emo initiation ceremony. The coroner Sykes testified, "the emo overtones concerning death and associating it with glamour I find very disturbing."
The girl reportedly told online friends of her plans to hang herself and live on in the afterlife as a member of "The Black Parade" - the title of a My Chemical Romance album.
The band has responded to this story with this statement: "We have recently learned of the suicide and tragic loss of Hannah Bond.
We'd like to send our condolences to her family during this time of mourning. Our hearts and thoughts are with them. My Chemical Romance are and always have been vocally anti-violence and anti-suicide. As a band, we have always made it one of our missions through our actions to provide comfort, support, and solace to our fans.
"The message and theme of our album 'The Black Parade' is hope and courage. Our lyrics are about finding the strength to keep living through pain and hard times. The last song on our album states: 'I am not afraid to keep on living' – a sentiment that embodies the band's position on hardships we all face as human beings.
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