Lithuanian music producer, composer, and DJ Marijus Adomaitis aka Ten Walls is re-emerging into the public sphere with renewed humility after an almost a decade shrouded in controversy. After his infamous 2015 Facebook post alleged him as homophonic, his bludgeoning career was brought to a screeching halt, Walls has spent a long span of time in exile from the public domain and much of the music industry.
WATCH: After 9 years, Ten Walls breaks the silence with his side of the story
Dabbling in electronica, experimental, house, and disco music, Walls’ career was soaring in 2014 with smashed billboards and festival headlines. This meteoric rise toppled in an instant after one fateful incident.
While his musical career did not grind to a complete halt, the scandal had a lastingly destructive impact on it. As a result of the backlash, he faced significant scrutiny, condemnation and consequences from the music community. Several music festivals and events canceled his performances, DJs such as A-Trak, Tiga, Knife Party and Optimo took to social media to condemn his comments, while Fort Romeau canceled a forthcoming appearance alongside him. His booking agency, Coda, dropped him. Even the Lithuanian president, Dalia Grybauskaitė, said the resulting discussions would benefit the country, acknowledging their difficulties with being insular, stating, “the sooner Lithuania becomes more open and more tolerant, the better it will be for the country.”
In June of 2015, Walls made a post on his personal Facebook page that sparked viral controversy and further disgraced his image in the public eye. Then in September, he put out a more detailed apology, in which he expressed shame, regret and took full responsibility for his actions. He insisted his initial post had been out of character and that he’d never been a homophobe. The post also announced that his upcoming project, an electronic version of the opera Carmen, would have a strong message of LGBT support, acceptance and tolerance within it. However, this was met with widespread incredulity.
The damage was done, and with his apology regarded as sparse and insincere, Walls’ opportunities within the music industry diminished even more.
Now, Walls is returning to the spotlight with hopes to set the record straight and highlight his own humanity. Seeking to convey that he is not homophobic or discriminatory in any way, Marijus wants the world to see that while he regrets the way that he and his PR team handled the situation, his 2015 post was mistranslated and taken out of context.
He also wishes to establish contact with the public again, and foster discussions that will illuminate the complexities of his side of the story, touching upon everything from his state of mind at the time of posting to LGBTQ rights, the impact this ordeal has had on him as a person.
As he makes his return, these questions are put forth. Does he deserve to be believed when he asserts that he categorically does not discriminate against anybody based on their race, religion or sexuality, and that he does not believe that gay people are paedophiles? That his sentiments were misconstrued and lost in translation? Is it charitable, careless, or wrong to give him a chance to redeem himself all of these years later?
