Mike Shinoda ‘Often Put Chester Down,’ Bennington’s Mother Says: ‘We’re Going to Replace You With a Girl’

“He said Mike told him at rehearsal that, ‘If you decide you’re leaving, we’re going to replace you with a girl.’ And Chester was dumbfounded and hurt.”

Chester Bennington’s mother Susan Eubanks has spoken up on Linkin Park’s reunion, claiming her son was “often put down” by Mike Shinoda

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Eubanks stated the band promised to inform her if “they were ever going to do something.” They didn’t keep to their word, and Eubanks found out about their reunion and recruitment of Dead Sara vocalist Emily Armstrong through Google, despite meeting Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn many times in recent years.

Eubanks understood why the band did this, saying they “probably knew that I wouldn’t be very happy. I’m very upset about it.” She continued, noting that she feels as if the band is trying to “erase the past.” In her own words:

“I feel like they’re trying very hard to erase the past. They’re performing songs that Chester sang. And I don’t know how the fans are taking it, but I know how I take it. And having [Armstrong] singing my son’s songs is hurtful.”

Further, Eubanks claimed that Shinoda was planning all along to replace Chester with a female vocalist. She said:

“Mike told Chester one time that he thought singing these songs would be better with a girl because he often put Chester down. And Chester called me and said, ‘He thinks that they’re going to replace me with a girl.'”

“And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said Mike told him at rehearsal that, ‘If you decide you’re leaving, we’re going to replace you with a girl.’ And Chester was dumbfounded and hurt.”

Eubanks stressed that she thought Shinoda would take over all vocals, and she wouldn’t mind if the band continued this way. It was only when she saw they attempted to replace Chester that she became upset:

“I thought Mike would go out and sing the songs, and they just wouldn’t sound the same. They wouldn’t be as high or as loud, and it would just be very different. And I would’ve been OK with that, but I’m not OK with this, to have somebody replace him and try to do what he did.”

“I don’t think that there’s anybody in the world that has the same voice. And when I heard that, I was just so repelled that no, they’re trying to do exactly what Chester did, but they’re not succeeding at it.”