Paramore’s Hayley Williams Reminds ‘Internet Bros’ That Hating Her Won’t Make Rock Acts Love Them

People who spend all day spewing hate on the internet have mastered the art of being loud and wrong. A subset of that community recently aimed at Hayley Williams following the postponement of several Paramore concerts while she recovered from a non-contagious lung infection. From their perspective, as people who likely haven’t performed even one percent of the number of shows that Williams has, she should have powered through — like Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl did when he broke his leg, apparently. The front woman isn’t usually one to bite her tongue; this instance was no exception.

“I have a lung infection you soft shit! Not a broken limb. One you can sing with for 2 hours, another you cant,” Williams wrote on her Instagram story Sunday night, sharing a screenshot of the nonsensical critique. “But worry not! The shows weren’t cancelled, merely postponed a week. Maybe you should come out to one of them… like Dave did.” Foo Fighters, it’s worth noting, also welcomed Williams to the stage at Bonnaroo for a performance of “My Hero” last month.

On July 22, Paramore postponed the San Francisco stop on their This Is Why tour, citing “sickness within the touring party.” Their planned shows in Seattle, Portland, and Salt Lake City were postponed the following day. Those shows will now take place on Aug. 9, 10, and 13, respectively. Before the tour resumed in Tulsa on Saturday, Williams revealed that she had been on antibiotics and steroids to address the illness she was pushing through for over a week between Paramore’s Houston and Los Angeles concerts.

“Touring is different at 34 than it was at 16, when leaving home felt like the greatest escape. Even in my 20’s I benefitted from the constant movement. It was a perfect distraction from relational issues and my own mind,” Williams wrote on the band’s discord. “At this age, I have my own home life, a community, a dog, my sisters and the rest of my family who are getting older … It’s quite a lot to leave behind.”

The lengthy statement was picked apart by people looking to criticize Williams, like the person who wrote: “Metallica manage… Iron Maiden manage all of which are much older than you love.” In response, the singer clapped back: “Neither James NOR Bruce are gonna suck your dick for this, LOVE.”

Williams, admittedly, was getting a laugh out of her own replies but did step back to acknowledge that this dynamic is something she’s all too familiar with. “Internet bros have been pressed by my proximity to rock music and all its subgenres since 2005. the only thing thats changed is the platform from which they spew their ignorance,” she wrote on Instagram. “Don’t think for a second your fav bands — metal or punk or otherwise — endorse your weird incel ass lifestyle.”

She added: “So many of these bands have stood side stage at our shows and treat us with respect. Why? Bc they aren’t threatened by a woman fronting a great band in a completely diff genre of music.”