April 29th, 2015 
James Shotwell 
UPDATE 4/30: Lionfight have released a new statement announcing the exit of Bryan Patrick Cole and apologizing to fans. You can find the full statement at the end of this post.
ORIGINAL POST: The riots taking place in Baltimore this week have captivated the world at large. Everywhere you turn someone has an opinion to share, and to be fair they have a right to share it. Try and keep that in mind when reading the following story.
Lionfight bassist Bryan Patrick Cole is at the center of a digital storm of controversy today after he posted (and later deleted) a Facebook status addressing the situation in Baltimore, as well as the death of Michael Brown. He claims both Brown and Freddie Gray ‘probably deserved’ to die. He also addresses the people currently rioting in Baltimore as ‘monkeys’ who should have their ‘asses kicked by the brave officers that try to do their damn jobs while you collect welfare and buy/sell drugs.’ You can read Cole’s full message below:
Needless to say, the internet is pretty pissed.
Hey @lionfightmusic I suggest you kick out your racist fuck of a bassist before the entire internet essentially ends your music carreer
— Liam (@SoftxServe) April 29, 2015
lets hope the bassist of lionfight offs himself
— denis (@DenisxPhelan) April 29, 2015
Lionfight bassist is in deep trouble now
— Steven S Goldberg (@THEJEWISHKING) April 29, 2015
I used to fuck with Lionfight but their bassist is a racist cunt so that’s all over
— Liam (@SoftxServe) April 29, 2015
Fuck this guy and his band (Lionfight) for backing him up, too. pic.twitter.com/UAhWvGcmQ0
— . (@_realhulkhogan) April 29, 2015
Lionfight have since issued a statement to fans:
“No matter what color your skin is, your race, gender, whatever… We are all beings on this planet. We should be here for each other. Burning down buildings and smashing cars with weapons will never solve anything. The end.”
An hour later, Cole posted this status on his Facebook:
“It’s a sad world we live in… Freedom of speech is dead.”
Thirty minutes after that, he added this:
“I made a mistake and I am truly sorry for what I said and how I said it. But what’s happening in these cities is terrifying and horrible and it should be stopped. If you have anything to say to me, say it. Let’s talk it out instead of trying to outshine each other. We are all human.”
The whole affair seems to have been deleted now, but screenshots of the comments continue to circulate online. We have worked with Lionfight in the past, but we feel it’s important to state that we do not share the views of Bryan Patrick Cole whatsoever. There is no room for racism anywhere in our world today.
UPDATE 4/30: Lionfight have released the following statement:
Today an ex band member of lionfight decided on his own to say some really shocking and racist remarks on his personal page. Not only did he offend many, including the other band members, he set back the social clock greatly by his ignorant remarks. We say ex because we cannot have that mindset and mouthpiece be a representative of us personally or what we’ve worked so damn hard for. Bryan will no longer be playing music with us. We love him like a brother and we will always be there to pick him up when he falls but we cannot move forward with him being a part of this. He made a really bad decision today and hopefully one day he will earn the forgiveness of each and every one of you, including ourselves.
As for lionfight, even though it was one band member with these opinions, the entire band took a major blow today. He was a part of lionfight and therefore the band was guilty by association. The lionfight name was all over the press today in a very disgusting light that DOES NOT accurately represent us personally or professionally. Regardless, something like this isn’t easily repaired. It may not even be repairable at all. It’s crazy to think how one moment can literally flip your world upside down. We apologize that this formal statement took us a while to post but it has taken us this long to even begin to gather our thoughts on what has happened today.
As far as we can tell, Cole has not issued another statement. Let’s all hope we can finally put this to rest.
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Respect the Bass! They know what harmony takes, and all else is meaningless fluff.
Pretty ironic coming from someone whose bandmates claimed people were racist towards them because of the color of their skin.