Banjo player Winston Marshall leaving Mumford & Sons to avoid self-censoring his politics

Winston Marshall, banjo player for Mumford & Sons, on Thursday announced he’s leaving the band.

Months after the British singer faced criticism over a tweet in which he praised right-wing journalist Andy Ngo on his recent book, he’s stepping out of the limelight.

Marshall shared the news of his departure in an op-ed for Medium titled, “Why I’m Leaving Mumford & Sons,” in which he shared stories of the group’s successes and reminisced on the good times.

“Being in Mumford & Sons was exhilarating,” Marshall wrote. “Every gig was its own adventure. Every gig its own story.”

Marshall explained that from living in luxury hotels to flying first-class, he was living the high life as a member of the chart-topping band.

“Who in their right mind would willingly walk away from this?” he asked. “It turns out I would.”

He added, “And as you might imagine it’s been no easy decision.”

After Marshall’s March tweet went viral, he and his bandmates began facing harsh criticism. Marshall applauded his bandmates for sticking by him, despite the uproar.

“Despite pressure to nix me they invited me to continue with the band,” he wrote. “That took courage, particularly in the age of so called ‘cancel culture.'”

Marshall slammed critics who labeled him as far-right over his message of support for Ngo, and the conservatives who subsequently shunned him after he issued a public apology.

“Though there’s nothing wrong with being conservative, when forced to politically label myself I flutter between ‘centrist,’ ‘liberal’ or the more honest ‘bit this, bit that,'” Marshall wrote. “Being labeled erroneously just goes to show how binary political discourse has become. I had criticised the ‘Left’ so I must be the ‘Right,’ or so their logic goes.”

He added that his commentary on a book that “documents the extreme Far-Left” is in “no way an endorsement of the equally repugnant Far-Right.”

Marshall says he now feels compelled to continue to speak up against what he perceives as the ills of politics, and doing so as a member of Mumford & Sons would hinder his bandmates. He does not wish to censor himself for the sake of his band’s popularity, he said.

“I hope in distancing myself from them I am able to speak my mind without them suffering the consequences,” Marshall explained. “I leave with love in my heart and I wish those three boys nothing but the best.”