Ethel Cain has posted a lengthy and personal response to a slew of past controversial social media posts that have resurfaced online.
Earlier this week, a group of screenshots of posts circulated online, originally highlighted by the X account @herweirdsilas that uses the name ‘Exposing’. The screenshots show a series of posts from 2017 and 2018 that Cain posted on the platform Curious Cat, including apparent posts in which she used offensive language and wore a T-shirt reading “LEGALIZE INCEST”.
Also among the posts are a drawing allegedly by Cain that some have described as child pornography, while another shows a poster she is said to have designed that parodied a real-life missing poster of a nine-year-old girl that was murdered.
Cain has responded to the controversy with an emotional and personal statement via Google Docs on Wednesday (July 9) in which she admits to having sent the posts and apologises for some of the “shameful” content. She has also said that the people resurfacing the content are not seeking justice, but looking to “destroy” her.
hacking ethel cain’s spotify in the middle of the night exactly a month before her new album release sounds a lot like an orchestrated hate campaign motivated by transphobia to me. this is not holding someone accountable, this is public humiliation. transphobia is not the answer. pic.twitter.com/FOKbhjmQ8u
— lia de lioncourt (@cainroan) July 9, 2025
“All of these things resurfacing are not the actions of a well-meaning individual concerned by something they discovered easily and casually on the internet. These are screenshots obtained through extensive digging, hacking and cooperative effort amongst a group of individuals who do not care who else is hurt by witnessing this media as long as I am ultimately hurt the worst in the end,” she wrote.
She explained that she was 19 at the time of the posts and she said she “fell into a subculture online that prioritized garnering attention at all costs”, adding that she “intended to be as inflammatory and controversial as possible. I would have said (and usually did say) anything, about anyone, to gain attention and ultimately just make my friends laugh.”
Addressing comments in which she admitted using the N-word: “At the end of the day I am white, so while I can take accountability for my actions, there’s no way for me to fully understand the way it feels to be on the receiving end of them. All I can say is that I am truly sorry from the bottom of my heart, to anyone who read it then and to anyone reading it now. Any way you feel about me moving forward is valid.”
“This was a chapter of my life I look back at shamefully,” she added. “I am not proud of my actions, and I have done my best to bury it as I feel strongly that no good can come from it. As I move forward through my life, I aim to use my platform for good, for change, and for progress. I believe it’s important to atone not through words alone, but through actions.“
ethel cain is a weirdo – a thread 🧵 pic.twitter.com/BN8Zxu4e0o
— exposing (@herweirdsilas) July 6, 2025
Cain goes on to address directly a series of specific posts, including the subjects of incest, child pornography, animal abuse, the missing child poster and misogyny – you can read the full statement here.
“To try and sum everything up, no I am not a violent misogynist fetishizing the “female experience”. No I am not the creator of child pornography, nor am I a pedophile, a zoophile, or a porn-addicted incest fetishist. I urge you to recognize the patterns of a transphobic/otherwise targeted smear campaign, especially in this political day and age. This information was hoarded until the perfect moment arose to unleash it. In this case, a baseless attempt to assassinate my boyfriend’s character became the catalyst. He will address these claims in his own time on his own terms and I support him wholeheartedly. This entire situation is negligent, sensationalized, and extremely dangerous not only for myself but for all my loved ones.”
Cain was also the subject of controversy earlier this year when she shared the hashtag #KillMoreCEOs after the high-profile murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York in December.
Responding to a backlash, including from Fox News, she said: “Since when has “upholding traditional values” gone hand in hand with… defending lawmakers and oil tycoons? My family and I complain about the same issues at the dinner table. The men in charge better hope they can keep their digital smokescreens running as long as they can because the moment the rednecks and the hippies lay down their swords long enough to realise they have the same enemy, all hell is gonna break loose.”
She was also one of the artists to join a campaign calling for the abolition of ICE last month, after the federal agency raided locations in Los Angeles to arrest individuals involved in illegal immigration to the country.