Arcade Fire’s Win Butler and Régine Chassagne announce their split – but the band will continue | Fire corridor

Arcade Fire’s Régine Chassagne and Win Butler have announced that they are separating after 22 years of marriage.

In a statement posted on the band’s Instagram account, they wrote: “They continue to love, admire and support each other as they co-parent their son,” born in 2013.

They wrote that Arcade Fire would remain an ongoing concern, and that they would continue to do charitable work for the Canby Foundation in Haiti – Chassagne’s parents had moved to Canada from the country during the Duvalier dictatorship.

Butler and Josh Dew founded Arcade Fire while at university around 2001; Chassagne joined soon after. Butler and Chassagne married in 2003, and a year later the band released their landmark debut album, Funeral.

In 2022, multiple women accused Butler of sexual misconduct. A Pitchfork investigation found four people, ages 18 to 23 at the time, who alleged sexual assault, unwanted sexual messages, requests for explicit videos and using his fame to stalk young fans.

At the time, Butler said his extramarital encounters were consensual: “It’s very revisionist, and it’s frankly wrong for anyone to suggest otherwise.”

He apologized to “anyone I hurt with my behaviour,” adding: “I continue to learn from my mistakes and work hard to become a better person, someone my son can be proud of… I’m sorry that I wasn’t more aware and in control of my impact on people – I made a mistake, and while I make no excuses, I will continue to look forward and heal what can be healed, and learn from past experiences.”

Chassagne said she stood by Butler in 2022, saying in a statement: “I know what’s in his heart, and I know he has never and will never touch a woman without her consent and I’m sure he never did.” “He lost his way and found his way back. I love him and I love the life we ​​created together.”

Arcade Fire released only one album following these allegations, this year’s Pink Elephant, which received lukewarm reviews and failed to crack the US Billboard 200 – their previous five albums reached the top 10 in the US, with three of them hitting number one.