Mumford & Sons member Winston Marshall announces break from band following Andy Ngo controversy

English rock band Mumford & Sons member Winston Marshall is “taking time away from the band to examine his blindspots.” In a previous tweet posted on Saturday, 6 March, the musician had praised right-wing author Andy Ngo for his latest book Unmasked. Winston’s action was followed by a social media backlash. Taking to Twitter again on Wednesday, 10 March, the lead guitarist of the band has apologised because his endorsement of the book has the “potential to be viewed as approvals of hate and divisive behaviour.” Marshall also said that over the last few days, he was able to fully understand the pain caused by him promoting Ngo’s book. He further added that he has not only offended many people he doesn’t know personally but also his bandmates. The banjo player has decided that he will be staying away from the band for some time. Read his post here

As per the Hollywood Reporter, Winston had endorsed Ngo’s book and called him brave. The book promoted by Winston was named Unmasked and it claimed to reveal “Antifa’s radical plan to destroy democracy.” Antifa is an anti-fascist anti-racist political movement in the United States. Many of those who are opposing Ngo’s book criticised Winston’s endorsement of the same. Over the last few days, Mumford & Sons has received backlash on social media for Winston’s tweet. The rock band, which was formed in 2007, has four members including Winston namely Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane. According to a book review in the Los Angeles Times, Unmasked is a “supremely dishonest book” on Antifa. The review written by the White House correspondent Alexander Nazaryan also says that the Ngo is “churning out the kind of propaganda that keeps authoritarian in power.” Unmasked has also received offline backlash from Antifa supporters. As reported by ABC News, following protests against the book, Powell’s Books, a chain of bookstores in Oregon and surrounding areas declared in January 2021 that the book will not be present in its Portland store.