Bad Wolves are off Skillet’s autumn US tour, one week after being announced on it. In a video statement posted Tuesday, vocalist Sara “KILLBOY” Skinner said the band had been removed after Skillet’s fanbase went looking into her background and reached two conclusions about her. She addressed both directly, confirmed that only one of them is accurate â and then deliberately declined to say which one. Skillet have not publicly commented.
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Scott Penfold covers the Bad Wolves situation on today’s Metal Breakdown Daily â what KILLBOY actually said, what nobody has established yet, and why the way she handled it is the most interesting part of the whole thing. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and get it every weekday morning.
What she said
The timeline is short. On August 18, Bad Wolves were announced as part of Skillet’s autumn US run alongside Escape The Fate. On August 25 â seven days later â they announced they were off it.
KILLBOY’s account, in her own words in the video: she’d gathered everyone to say Bad Wolves would no longer be joining Skillet on the tour. She said Skillet’s camp didn’t want her to say anything, but that a statement had to be made, and that she’s never been someone who hides who she is â so rather than leave people to speculate, she’d tell them the truth.
Her version of what happened: Skillet announced them, and Skillet’s fans then did some fairly extensive research â research, she noted pointedly, that Skillet’s own booking agents and management hadn’t done. What those fans concluded was that she is trans and that she has an OnlyFans account.
Then the line that’s travelling: only one of those things is true. Have fun finding out. See you on the next tour.
She didn’t say which one. That was clearly the point.
Bad Wolves followed it up on their social channels with a message of support to their sex worker, trans and LGBTQ family.
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What nobody has established
Worth being precise here, because a lot of coverage today won’t be.
Skillet have not commented. As of publication they’ve said nothing publicly about why Bad Wolves are no longer on the bill, and we have one side of that decision.
KILLBOY did not say Skillet removed them for a specific reason. Her account is that Skillet’s fans investigated her, and that the band came off the tour. She connected those two things; she didn’t put words in Skillet’s mouth about which finding drove it, or claim to know what was discussed internally.
And she deliberately didn’t confirm which accusation is accurate. So we’re not going to guess, and neither should anybody else. That withholding is the entire substance of what she did â the whole point was that strangers spent a week deciding who she is, and she declined to hand them a verdict.
If Skillet respond, that’s a genuinely bigger story than this one. Until then, this is what’s known.
Why the way she handled it works
Set aside where you land on any of it â the response itself is worth noting.
The standard playbook when a band gets pulled from a tour is a bland statement about scheduling conflicts and unforeseen circumstances. Everyone involved knows it’s fiction, the rumour mill runs anyway, and the artist ends up defined by whatever version travels fastest.
She did the opposite. She named the accusations herself, before anyone else could frame them, refused the premise that either would be shameful, and turned the ambiguity back on the people who’d been digging.
That’s a hard thing to pull off in ninety seconds, and she did it without sounding wounded or defensive.
Whether it costs Bad Wolves anything commercially is another question. Skillet are a substantial touring act with a large Christian rock audience, and that run was real exposure.
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Where Bad Wolves are right now
Some context, because this is a band who’ve had a genuinely turbulent decade.
Bad Wolves formed in Los Angeles in 2017 out of members with serious pedigrees, and broke enormous almost immediately with their cover of The Cranberries’ “Zombie” â a song that went multi-platinum and gave them a career-defining hit inside a year.
Original vocalist Tommy Vext left in 2021 after a long stretch of public controversy, and his legal troubles continued afterwards. Daniel “DL” Laskiewicz fronted the band for the Dear Monsters and Die About It era. KILLBOY is their third vocalist, and their first frontwoman.
The current core is John Boecklin, AJ Rebollo and Skinner.
She’s the second lineup change at that microphone in five years, and she’s now dealing with a level of scrutiny neither of her predecessors faced in quite this form â which says less about Bad Wolves than it does about where heavy music’s audience currently sits culturally.
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The tour itself
Skillet’s autumn US run continues with Escape The Fate still on the bill as far as anyone has announced.
Skillet have been a fixture of mainstream rock radio for two decades, with an openly Christian identity and a fanbase that reflects it. Their most recent material includes the singles “Scream” and “Lift Me Up” from the forthcoming After The Storm EP. Escape The Fate have been operating in the post-hardcore and metalcore space since 2004.
Bad Wolves, for their part, have plenty else on. If you’re mapping out the rest of the year’s live schedule, our 2026 tour and festival guide has the wider picture.
TL;DR
- What happened: Bad Wolves announced on August 25 that they’ve been removed from Skillet’s autumn US tour, one week after being confirmed on the bill.
- What KILLBOY said: Skillet’s fanbase investigated her background and concluded she is trans and has an OnlyFans account. She confirmed only one of the two is true and deliberately declined to say which.
- What she also said: Skillet’s camp didn’t want her to comment, but she felt a statement had to be made rather than leave people to speculate.
- What Skillet have said: nothing publicly as of publication.
- What Bad Wolves added: a message of support to their sex worker, trans and LGBTQ community.
- The rest of the bill: Escape The Fate remain on the tour as announced.
FAQ
Why were Bad Wolves dropped from Skillet’s tour?
According to vocalist Sara “KILLBOY” Skinner, Skillet’s fanbase researched her background after the band was announced on the bill and drew two conclusions about her, after which Bad Wolves were removed from the tour. Skillet have not publicly commented on the decision or given their own account of it.
What did Bad Wolves’ singer say?
In a video statement on August 25, 2026, Skinner said Skillet’s fans concluded she is trans and has an OnlyFans account, and confirmed that only one of the two claims is accurate â without specifying which. She said Skillet’s camp had preferred she not comment, but that she has never hidden who she is and didn’t want to leave people to speculate.
Is Sara “KILLBOY” Skinner trans?
She has not said. In her statement she confirmed only one of the two claims circulating about her is true and deliberately declined to identify which one, telling people they could work it out themselves. Speculating beyond that is exactly what she was pushing back against.
Have Skillet responded?
Not publicly. As of publication Skillet had made no statement about Bad Wolves’ removal from the tour, and the only account available is Bad Wolves’ own.
Who is in Bad Wolves now?
John Boecklin on drums, AJ Rebollo on guitar and Sara “KILLBOY” Skinner on vocals. Skinner is the band’s third vocalist, following founding singer Tommy Vext, who departed in 2021, and Daniel “DL” Laskiewicz.
One band said what happened. The other hasn’t said anything at all. Keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream â follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
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