The family of Echosmith drummer Graham Sierota is sharing some personal information amid his controversy with Travis Barker‘s daughter Alabama.
The 20-year-old musician was called out for sending Instagram direct messages to the 13-year-old but has since apologized and explained that he did not know Alabama‘s age.
Now Graham‘s family is revealing that he was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder as a child and “has difficulty understanding social cues.”
“We have never publicly addressed this in the past, but given the events of the last few days, we feel compelled to speak out now to offer some additional context and insight into the unfortunate misunderstandings that occurred and clear up the deeply hurtful mischaracterizations of Graham,” the Sierota family said in a statement to Just Jared.
They continued, “Graham’s challenges have always been a non-issue in our family. In fact, it is a truly beautiful and wonderful thing that makes Graham the amazing brother, son and friend that he is. His outlook on life inspires us every day…We understand that his interactions were misinterpreted and misunderstood in the confusing world of social media, and we are deeply sorry. Graham certainly never meant to make anyone feel uncomfortable.”
“As a family, we will continue to work with him to have the right tools and knowledge about social boundaries, and to better navigate and utilize social media while he takes a break from it. We hope anyone who’s been affected, and in turn felt uncomfortable, can accept our deepest apologies,” they concluded.
Click inside to read the Sierota family’s entire statement…
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