Machine Gun Kelly knows what his dad went through. Some family trauma echoes through generations.
In recent years, Machine Gun Kelly’s relationship with Megan Fox really put her fans to the test.
However, there’s more to the somewhat notorious singer and songwriter than saying, “I am weed,” and being the cringe half of a celebrity couple.
When his father was only 9 years old, he was on trial for the murder of his father.
Machine Gun Kelly’s Dad Watched His Own Father Die
When he was only 9 years old, Machine Gun Kelly’s father saw his dad — MGK’s grandfather — die from an accidental gunshot wound. Then, just a little kid himself, he stood trial for “murder.”
Speaking on the August 5 episode of Bunnie Xo’s Dumb Blonde podcast, Machine Gun Kelly spoke about the horror that his dad witnessed — and the further trauma that followed.
“The story that was always told to me was that their dad dropped the gun, and his head essentially blew off,” MGK recalled during the podcast.
“All happened in the room with my dad at 9 years old,” Machine Gun Kelly emphasized, once again showing his sensitive side.
“So him and my grandmother were tried for the murder,” he added. “They were both acquitted.”
One has to assume that police and prosecutors hoped to pressure the mother into a false confession. In this case, by putting her traumatized 9-year-old on trial. This is an extreme example of an alarmingly common problem in our broken justice system.
Growing up, Machine Gun Kelly didn’t always understand his dad’s trauma
As a child, MGK — whose real name is Colson Baker — didn’t empathize when his father would “freak out” over “loud noise.”
He recalled: “I would be like, ‘You’re supposed to be a man, dude. Why are you acting like this?’ and it just made me hate him.”
Eventually, though, Machine Gun Kelly came to understand his dad. “And then, you sit there, and you think about a kid who was on trial at 9 years old for the murder of his father,” he said on the podcast. “I had a very interesting talk with him on his deathbed about that moment.”
After Machine Gun Kelly’s mother left the family, his dad raised him. In 2020, his father passed away. It took a long time for MGK to understand how his father’s trauma had impacted him for life.
“In my situation with my father, he was so tormented from some of the most insane s–t that I can imagine a kid can go through,” he noted. “He had to figure it out, but with almost every possible bad circumstance going against him, too.”
Machine Gun Kelly reflected: “It’s almost like the expectations are too high. Because we think that they know everything because we grew up looking up at them. But we’re all just lost and trying to figure it out.”
He’s spoken about this with his own daughter
Machine Gun Kelly has had an important talk with his 15-year-old daughter, Casie, about what his dad endured.
A 9-year-old going to trial is rare. (A 9-year-old white kid going to trial is even rarer, because our legal system is not as even-handed as one might like)
That’s part of their family history and family legacy. It’s horrifying to think that a traumatic loss would be compounded, rather than redressed, by the legal system.
