Yacht drew the internet’s ire following a sex tape hoax publicity stunt that was meant to promote a new video from the band but backfired spectacularly. At the end of the day yesterday, they issued a non-apologetic statement that took the “I’m sorry you’re offended” route, but they’ve now backtracked and released another statement in which they apologize for the whole situation and the non-apology they offered. Read it below.

First off, we’re sorry.

The reaction to this endeavor highlights a glaring error we made in positioning ourselves as the victims of a leaked sex tape. We understand that positioning it that way from the beginning was an egregious mistake, and are so ashamed we hadn’t considered this beforehand.

Yes, this was all a “hoax” or “PR stunt,” and one we were so excited to share. While there is inherent deception in pulling a hoax, it was never our intention to mock or make light of anyone who has been a victim of a privacy violation like the one we mentioned. This was a lazy starting point for what we wanted to be a much more fun story about the expectations of a sex tape and the frenzy surrounding the taboo of sex, especially juxtaposed with our own non-celebrity. We failed to tell that story. Instead we told a much darker and more disturbing story.

We’ve been going back and forth on what to do about the music video this was all supposed to lead up to. We were leaning towards not releasing it at all, but we think it’s important that people be able to see and assess for themselves our intent.

We take full responsibility for what has happened, and we are truly sorry. We know we’ve broken a bond of trust with many of our fans and friends. Thank you to those that called us out and helped us to understand the gravity of the mistake we made. We should not have hinged this entire project on the fiction that we were the victims of a leaked tape, and we’re equally disappointed in ourselves for taking so long to get over being shocked at the response and write this apology.

After all is said and done, of course you should be mad at us. We’re mad at us too.

Love,
Jona & Claire

PS: We’re sorry for our shitty non-apology yesterday, too. There’s no justifying it. We clearly didn’t get it then. We get it now.