Machine Gun Kelly Shuts Down TikToker Who Claimed He Didn’t Play Guitar Live
Machine Gun Kelly's guitar playing was called into question last week on TikTok when a video went viral of a Guitar Center employee dissecting his guitar playing and claiming that a kill switch on his guitar seen in several photos suggested he was performing live without the instrument's volume turned on. After the video circulated on the social media site, the musician shot his own TikTok in which he shut down the theory, explaining where this idea went wrong.
The clip, titled "Machine Gun Kelly EXPOSED," started with Gunnar Dugrey sharing with viewers that after receiving the new Machine Gun Kelly signature Schecter guitar at his store, he first took notice of the kill switch. "It's got a pretty interesting feature, it's called a kill switch. If you flip this in the down position, it cuts off all the volume making it completely silent," stated Gunnar, then adding, "That got me wondering, how does MGK use this in his live performances."
Dugrey then shows various shots of Kelly performing with the kill switch in the down position, adding, "It certainly seems like he doesn't use it for much other than muting his guitar while he plays."
But after the video circulated over four million times, one of the people to view it was MGK himself, who then dissected what was wrong with the hypothesis. Sharing a duet video, Kelly chimed in on each point, then explaining, "Hold on, you reverse-engineered it to go like this 'cause when it goes down, it's on. I only play my guitar live. You should go watch a performance, you can clearly hear that live."
The musician also mocked back, "You're wearing a Liquid Death hat. I'm also a part-owner in that company so you're promoting me while hating on me."
@machinegunkelly #duet with @gunnar_dugrey ♬ original sound - Gunnar DüGrey
After MGK's TikTok response circulated, Dugrey posted his own video apology to the musician. "I was wrong and I'm happy to admit that. This was the first guitar that I had seen that had a kill switch like this and it was in fact off in the down position and on in the up position when it came out of the box but I didn't realize you can apparently spin this thing around. Usually toggle switches like this are used for pickups and you have to rewire it for the change of direction. There's no spinning for something like this, so I just didn't consider that and that's on me," he explained.
He also admitted that had he done more research, he would've seen that the video that one of the photos came from clearly showed MGK playing live. He also added that he only had 200 followers and didn't think his video would blow up like it did or be viewed as serious hit piece, but he did offer his formal apology to the musician.
@gunnar_dugrey My response to @machinegunkelly #FYP #guitardrama #MGK #machinegunkelly #guitar ♬ original sound - Gunnar DüGrey
Machine Gun Kelly, very much playing his guitar, is ramping up to the March 25 release of his Tickets to My Downfall follow-up, Mainstream Sellout. Most recently, he's released the songs "Emo Girl" with special guest Willow and "Ay!" featuring Lil' Wayne.