Journey’s Neal Schon won’t be running toward Donald Trump with open arms anytime soon. However, some of his bandmates already have, and he’s not happy about it.
Last week, Schon shared a post on Facebook in which he called out three of his bandmates ― keyboardist Jonathan Cain, bassist Ross Valory, and frontman Arnel Pineda ― who visited the White House last Thursday.
Schon, a founding member of the band, seems to believe the publicized meeting was done with the intention of exploiting the Journey brand, and it doesn’t sit well with him. He also claims it was arranged without his knowledge.
“Journey was not there ― 3 individual members were Cain Valory and Pineda whom I found ... Tours are done all the time but it could have been privately,” he wrote. “I had no prior knowledge of this from anyone. Not band members or Managment. This clearly shows no respect or Unity, just Divide.”
Schon also expressed his frustrations about the whole situation on Twitter throughout the weekend, replying to fans who showed their support.
At one point, he said the White House photo op went against everything the band stood for, adding that Jonathan Cain “changed radically.” Cain is married to Paula White, the woman who has been cited as Trump’s spiritual advisor; she was also present at the president’s January inauguration.
Schon maintained that politics do not belong in a band before writing, “I won’t be dealing with any more toxic shit,” though he didn’t necessarily confirm he would leave the band. He did, however, say he’s “taken it by the horns and who ever doesn’t like can leave.”
HuffPost has reached out to a representative for Journey and will update this post accordingly.