Jaime Bennington, son of the late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, has spoken out about being portrayed as “crazy” over his claims regarding his father’s death and his relationship with band member Mike Shinoda. The interview was published by The Picture Pieces Archive.
Bennington addressed his ongoing efforts to investigate what happened to his father. He also spoke about the personal toll that work has taken on him and those around him.
“Well, I do consider myself an investigator because, you know, just from my own perspective, that’s how I see it,” he said. “But also, you know, I have, like you said, I have a very outspoken desire to understand. Not just to know, but to almost math out. Like I’m about the experience, but I’m also about the story.”
He went on to describe the emotional weight of his investigative work and how it connects him to others who have shared similar experiences.
“And so a lot of what I do happens at a distance, but my work ethic is the same,” he continued. “And the more I realize what I’m looking at and how awful it really is, the more I feel it because the more I’m able to put it into context, the memory is the feeling. It’s almost like I can connect through the work to a greater collective conscious on a thing vicariously.”
Bennington also paid tribute to a woman named Madison Claire’s, whom he described as a fellow survivor who recently died by suicide. He drew parallels between her experience and his own.
“There was somebody who I’d like to shout out who died recently. Their name is Madison Claire’s. I believe her full name is Madison Cups,” he said. “And she was talking about how her father sold her and was one of the pioneers of a digital child trafficking service. And she died recently. I reached out to her.”
“She’s presenting her own sources. She’s presenting her own experience. She’s trying to elevate her art. And this last April, she apparently died by suicide. And some of what they were saying was that she had a challenge with psychedelics and that she had a false memory syndrome and all these things. And I’m like, that’s such a horrible thing to do to somebody.”
He then connected her story to his own, explaining that similar tactics had been used against him to discredit his narrative.
“And I had similar things said about me. Obviously, I’m still here. But there was a time where that may not have been the case because if I hadn’t acted in a certain way, I could have been taken advantage of in a certain way that my narrative could have been changed,” he said. “That’s what I was trying to say when I came out in October 23 was that they’re trying to make me look crazy.”
Bennington also addressed his public criticism of Mike Shinoda. He clarified the specific nature of his remarks and expressed frustration that media coverage focused on the conflict rather than its substance.
“It sounds like a paranoid thing to say, but they are going to try to make me look crazy here in a second,” he said. “And then like you said, Jaime Bennington strikes out at Mike Shinoda, but you don’t want to talk about what I was striking out about. I called him a colonizer. That’s why I called him. I called him a whitewashed colonizer. Not to mince words.”
“And I made it very clear why I thought that. But nobody wanted to report on that. When I bring up all these facts, people want to tell me, ‘Oh, that’s not a real fact.’ And it’s like, I’m literally showing you the evidence. I can’t show you. There’s no other way to show you evidence. I’m showing it to you.”
The interview was conducted as part of the UNPAUsE. an INTERVIEW UNDERGROUND with Sonny von Cleveland series on July 20, 2026. It marks one of Bennington’s most detailed public statements to date on the matter.
Jaime’s latest remarks come against a backdrop of escalating tension between the Bennington family and Linkin Park’s current direction. The conflict has been building publicly for nearly two years and shows no sign of cooling.
Chester Bennington died on July 20, 2017, at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California. He was 41 years old. The Los Angeles County coroner ruled the death a suicide by hanging. He was found just one week before Linkin Park was set to embark on a 29-date North American tour. Chester had long been open about his struggles with depression and substance abuse throughout his life and career.
Jaime’s grievances with Shinoda and the band’s new chapter are not new. In September 2024, he posted a public statement calling Linkin Park’s reunion with new vocalist Emily Armstrong a betrayal of his father’s memory. He accused Shinoda of “silently erasing my father’s existence and legacy in real time.” The charge drew significant attention online but received little mainstream media follow-up on its specific substance — a pattern Jaime has repeatedly pointed to as evidence of deliberate suppression.
The “colonizer” remark Jaime referenced in the interview was part of that same wave of public statements. He described Shinoda as a “whitewashed colonizer,” a pointed accusation rooted in specific evidence he says he had gathered. Media coverage at the time focused almost entirely on the inflammatory language rather than the underlying claims. Jaime says this is a recurring tactic used to discredit him.
Chester Bennington left behind six children from three different relationships. Jaime has positioned himself as the most vocal among them in challenging the official narrative surrounding his father’s death and the subsequent direction of the band. His continued public presence, despite the personal cost he describes, reflects a determination to keep the questions he is raising in front of an audience — on his own terms.
