Echosmith Drummer Graham Sierota’s Family Reveal Autism Diagnosis Amid Travis Barker Drama
Echosmith drummer Graham Sierota landed in hot water recently when Blink 182 rocker Travis Barker put him on blast for having inappropriate conversations with his 13-year-old daughter on Instagram.
As The Inquisitr reported yesterday, Travis was “disgusted” when he learned of the messages Sierota had been sending his daughter for years. Some of the messages being referenced included Graham calling Alabama “beautiful” and inviting her to come to his house to attend a party. It was when Travis’ daughter posted screenshots of the conversation on social media that he decided to speak out.
Barker slammed the Echosmith drummer as showing “predatory behavior.”
In a statement issued to E! News, Graham’s bandmates and family members shed some light on why the drummer had such an inappropriate conversation with the young girl. According to the statement, Sierota has autism and struggles with social cues.
“We have never publicly addressed this in the past but given the events of the last few days, we feel compelled to speak out now to offer some additional context and insight into the unfortunate misunderstandings that occurred and clear up the deeply hurtful mischaracterizations of Graham,” the official statement reads.
Sierota’s family continued to explain that the drummer’s “challenges” are part of what make him such a “truly beautiful and wonderful” person.
His family revealed that Graham sees the world as a happy place and makes it his effort to include everyone.
In defense of Graham inviting the young Alabama to his home, his family explained that the drummer once took to social media to invite anyone and everyone to a Christmas party. The family did not learn he had sent out so many invitations until an array of athletes, musicians, artists, and models showed up to the party and explained how they had learned about it.
“Anyone who has ever met Graham will agree, he is the friendliest and most kind-hearted, welcoming person in the world,” the family concluded.
Echosmith Drummer Graham Sierota's Family Reveals He Is on the Autism Spectrum https://t.co/vp0fLTPIAj
— People (@people) August 3, 2019
Following the incident, Graham’s family apologized to Alabama and her family. They also promised that they would continue to work with the drummer to help him understand how to navigate the confusing world of social media in a more proper manner.
“We hope anyone who’s been affected, and in turn felt uncomfortable, can accept our deepest apologies.”
Upon learning of his autism diagnosis, many who were quick to trash the drummer for being predatory on social media have since come to his defense as someone who just needed to work on his social skills.
And I look like a teen ?? I’m gonna come to his defense as someone with Autism. He needs to work on his social skills.
— ????? ???? ???? ? (@GChanNews) August 3, 2019
Unfortunately for Graham, not everyone was ready to accept the reasoning or the apology. One Twitter user, in very NSFW language, exclaimed that autism was no excuse for the way he harassed Travis’ daughter for years on social media.
E! News also confirms that Alabama did take to her Instagram Stories to acknowledge the apology. She explained that she did forgive the drummer and just wanted everyone to move on.
