Image Credit: Jo Hale/Redferns 
The guitarist for English folk rock band Mumford & Sons announced he’s leaving the group Thursday, citing a desire to speak freely on politics without his band suffering repercussions.
In a message posted to Medium, guitarist and banjo player Winston Marshall, 33, discussed the political controversy sparked last March when he published a tweet praising Andy Ngo’s work on his book, “Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy.”
At the beginning of March I tweeted to American journalist Andy Ngo, author of the New York Times Bestseller, Unmasked. “Congratulations @MrAndyNgo. Finally had the time to read your important book. You’re a brave man”. Posting about books had been a theme of my social-media throughout the pandemic. I believed this tweet to be as innocuous as the others. How wrong I turned out to be.
Over the course of 24 hours it was trending with tens of thousands of angry retweets and comments. I failed to foresee that my commenting on a book critical of the Far-Left could be interpreted as approval of the equally abhorrent Far-Right.
At the time Marshall had issued an apology to offended leftists, unwittingly ticking off people on the right.
Rather predictably another viral mob came after me, this time for the sin of apologising. Then followed libellous articles calling me “right-wing” and such. Though there’s nothing wrong with being conservative, when forced to politically label myself I flutter between “centrist”, “liberal” or the more honest “bit this, bit that”. Being labeled erroneously just goes to show how binary political discourse has become. I had criticised the “Left”, so I must be the “Right”, or so their logic goes.
Marshall’s recent post, however, commends Ngo’s work in bravely documenting the activities of the “extreme Far-Left.”
I have spent much time reflecting, reading and listening. The truth is that my commenting on a book that documents the extreme Far-Left and their activities is in no way an endorsement of the equally repugnant Far-Right. The truth is that reporting on extremism at the great risk of endangering oneself is unquestionably brave. I also feel that my previous apology in a small way participates in the lie that such extremism does not exist, or worse, is a force for good.
Despite his bandmates giving him the opportunity to stay in the group, Marshall says he decided it was best to leave due to the optics of the controversy and so he can “speak his mind” without the need to “self-censor.”
For me to speak about what I’ve learnt to be such a controversial issue will inevitably bring my bandmates more trouble. My love, loyalty and accountability to them cannot permit that. I could remain and continue to self-censor but it will erode my sense of integrity. Gnaw my conscience. I’ve already felt that beginning.
The only way forward for me is to leave the band. I hope in distancing myself from them I am able to speak my mind without them suffering the consequences. I leave with love in my heart and I wish those three boys nothing but the best.
The issue shows how the left’s war on free speech, and its defense of the violent black bloc anarchist group Antifa, has gone into overdrive.