Jesse Hughes (musician)

Jesse Everett Hughes was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on September 24, 1972. At age seven, he moved with his mother Jo Ellen to Palm Desert, California. In high school, he met Josh Homme, and they became good friends after Homme stopped a bully from picking on Hughes. He graduated from Greenville Technical College with a degree in journalism and worked as the manager of a video depot in Palm Desert for several years.

Hughes performing with Eagles of Death Metal in June 2019

Hughes is currently endorsed by Maton guitars[14] and Orange amplifiers.[15]

Hughes uses many different nicknames, including "J. Devil", "The Devil",[18] "Boots Electric", and "Fabulous Weapon" (the latter two being band names used by his father). In November 2008, he revealed that his bandmate Josh Homme gave him "The Devil" nickname when he was 13: "I used to get picked on a lot, and when I would get picked on severely, or if it really made a point to me, I would get vengeance, but I would get vengeance in the way that I could, which was mostly clever and all consuming. Joshua once witnessed me in the moment I was about to enact vengeance upon someone, and he just said, 'You're the fucking devil dude,' and it stuck."[19]

In a November 2008 interview, Homme described himself and Hughes as "socially liberal but government conservative guys".[20] Hughes' political views became more right-wing over the following years, and he revealed in December 2013 that he had even "wanted to be a Republican politician" in his youth.[21] He has described himself as a "proud Zionist".[22]

In October 2015, the documentary The Redemption of the Devil gave a behind-the-scenes look at Hughes' life. While generally well-received, the documentary mostly gained attention for Hughes' erratic behavior, which included beginning a relationship with a former porn actress and getting ordained as a minister with the Universal Life Church.[23]

In February 2016, Hughes made a series of controversial statements blaming Islam, liberal values, and French gun control laws for the November 2015 Bataclan attack, as well as claiming that Muslims "[celebrated] in the streets" during the attack.[24] He also speculated that it was an inside job, claiming that security personnel who did not report to the venue that day "had a reason not to show up".[25] He and his band were then dropped from the lineup of two French music festivals.[26][27] Bataclan management said that Hughes and his manager were refused entry to the venue when he tried to visit on the anniversary of the attack. This has been denied by the band's manager Marc Pollack as well as journalists that were at the event.[28][29][30]

In January 2017, Hughes' former friend Andrew Julian Vega obtained a restraining order against Hughes after he sent Vega death threats.[31]

In March 2018, Hughes attacked the March for Our Lives protesters on Instagram, calling them "pathetic" and "disgusting vile abusers of the dead". He accused the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting who participated in the protest of "exploiting the death of 16 of our fellow students for a few Facebook likes and some media attention" while accusing one of them, X González, of treason.[32] He later deleted the posts amidst widespread criticism and apologized five days later, saying, "I was not attempting to impugn the youth of America and this beautiful thing that they accomplished. I truly am sorry, I did not mean to hurt anyone or cause any harm."[33]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jesse Hughes.

• Official Eagles of Death Metal site
• Jesse talks to Mattias and Dave-Os of Band of the Day
• Jesse Hughes Talks About Heart On
• Jesse Hughes In SPIN's November Issue Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
• Boots Electric tribute Movember team