Agalloch members condemn John Haughm; Pillorian bandmates quit after anti-Semitic remark

UPDATE: Haughm issued an apology.

Former Agalloch and current Pillorian frontman John Haughm has come under fire for making an anti-Semitic comment on Facebook, which seems to have led to the other two members of Pillorian leaving the band. Haughm’s former Agalloch bandmates also posted a statement condemning him.

As MetalSucks points out, it all started when Haughm posted a tribute to the late actor Bruno Ganz, who famously portrayed Hitler in the 2004 movie Downfall, which has led to lots of “Hitler reacts to” memes. “RIP Bruno Ganz. His portrayal of Hitler in Downfall was incredible and unfortunately parodied to death online,” he wrote. “Although, I did expect some joker would’ve made a ‘Hitler reacts to the Agalloch breakup’ by now. I will admit that the Morbid Angel one was pretty funny…”

Then, after the post had been live for a while, Haughm wrote in the comments, “Glad to see that Jewbook hasn’t deleted my post like I have heard about other Ganz tributes.” (He then edited it to say “Judenbook.” “Juden” is German for “Jew.”)

After catching wind of these comments, Pillorian guitarist Stephen Parker announced his departure from the band on his personal Facebook, writing:

As of this writing, I will no longer be performing or involved with Pillorian. In light of recent events, I feel it’s best for me personally, professionally, and creatively to go in a separate direction. The personal views reflected by other musicians I may have worked with are not my own views; I don’t take any sort of racist speech lightly. I feel endless gratitude for those who have supported my endeavors with Pillorian by coming to shows, picking up merch, or streaming the album.

Drummer Trevor Matthews (who also used to be in Uada until he was terminated from the band in 2017) has not yet commented, but he changed his occupation on his Facebook page to read “former drummer at Pillorian.”

Haughm’s former Agalloch bandmates Don Anderson, Jason Walton and Aesop Dekker — who had a messy breakup with Haughm and now all play in Khorada — posted a statement via Don’s personal Facebook, which reads:

We—Jason, Aesop, and myself—are deeply disappointed to learn that our former bandmate John Haughm has made an anti-Semitic comment on his Facebook page. We vehemently condemn our former bandmate and want to make it clear that none of us share his reprehensible viewpoints. We have not had any direct contact with him since the breakup nearly 3 years ago (aside from Don who handles the business side of things with him). We are not friends. More importantly, he is NOT Agalloch. Please feel free to share.

Aesop Dekker also posted a screenshot of the editing history of Haughm changing his post from “Jewbook” to “Judenbook,” and captioned it: “When you can’t really settle on the best way to be a tiny edgelord.”

You can see their full posts, and screenshots of Haughm’s posts, below.