Billy Corgan calls trans woman a “he/she” & “ugly pig”

Remember when Smashing Pumpkins’ frontman Billy Corgan called trans woman, activist, and guitar pedal engineer Devi Ever “an ugly pig,” and “he/she”? Well, that’s not all he said…

The mediocre musician that piggybacks on the talent of others also threatened to “knock [her] fucking lights out” and said “I am gonna sue you for so much you’ll never be able to afford so much as to even make a fucking guitar cable.”

Why is Billy Corgan bashing a trans woman?

Devi has since deleted the post which started the feud. But, internet sleuths did manage to snag Corgan’s now-deleted angry transphobic Facebook posts and tweets.

What caused this hissy fit? Ever complained that Corgan had never paid nor responded to her regarding a custom bass pedal she allegedly made at his request. That made the Smashing Pumpkins’ frontman pretty mad.

After calling Ever an “an ugly pig,” a “he/she,” and accusing her of stealing her pedal idea from another Portland, Oregon pedal maker on X (then Twitter), he took to Facebook to continue his tirade:

“You ugly piece of shit…if i ever run into you, anywhere, at anytime, for as long as i live, i will knock your fucking lights out. don’t ever come near me, and if i hear even one more peep out of you in public about me, or the band, or the members of the band, i am gonna sue you for so much you’ll never be able to afford so much as to even make a fucking guitar cable.”

Billy Corgan on Facebook

Via Facebook, Ever called his “stolen pedal” claim libelous and said that his public rant probably wouldn’t help his lawsuit, Corgan continued:

“You fucked up, you know it, so eat shit, shut the fuck up and accept you’ve attacked someone who tried to HELP YOU. but addicts and self-destructive people like you who HATE THEMSELVES must turn their hate out. if this is what you have to do to not kill your unhappy self, well then i’d say it was a wise decision. beyond that, you are fucking lame, dumb, and so so ugly.”

Billy Corgan on Facebook

Ever ended up making a 19-minute YouTube video about her side of the story and how Corgan’s transphobic language hurts trans-rights, but she deleted it, and later commented:

“Instead of being a whiny bitch on [the Smashing Pumpkins message boards] I should have gone for a hike, cooled off, then spoken with Billy privately about my disappointments with his reactions / non-reaction to my pedals over the years, but I still don’t think that excuses Billy for going as far as he did in retaliation, and I’d still greatly appreciate if Billy apologized via Twitter, and perhaps donate to a trans-rights organization.”

Devi Evers response to Billy Corgan’s transphobic tirade

The her-story behind Billy Corgan’s transphobia

But what’s with Corgan’s trans-hate? Well, we got a hold of Corgan’s first-hand account of his sexual encounter with a transwoman which might shed light on his anti-trans mindset. Presenting, Billy’s April 11th 2005 LiveJournal post:

“One cool evening, I run into someone I see regularly out and about…we get to talking, and one thing leads to another, and she invites me back to her apartment…she makes me some soup, and after I am fed full, pulls me into her bed…the lights are turned off, and we start kissing…each time I try to touch her ‘down there’, she moves away from me and tenses up…this goes on for about 10 minutes until I finally ask if there is a problem…she says “there is something I have to tell you”, and proceeds to tell me that she is a he…I jump up and flip on the light…she/he says “look, it’s not a big deal, I won’t tell anyone, please stay, I’ll do anything you want me to do”…I beg off politely, saying it’s not really my trip, and I’m *boom* out the door, on the street laughing to myself (how could I not know! Oops…) it occurs to me that I always thought she was a kind of weird looking girl anyway…I walked the 20 minutes home in the middle of the night, and was relieved to get back safe…I go inside, walk to the bathroom and throw on the light, and gasp when I see the massive hickie on my neck…of course, the next day the band is rehearsing, and when they see the mark, ask who I had ended up with…I lie and say it was a tourist type girl who had already left town…after a few weeks, friends start coming up and asking me if I had slept with the he/she…I feign ignorance at the whole matter, but I start to get angry because I felt I had been duped innocently, acted honorably, and now some sort of revenge was being played out…after a couple more weeks of this, I finally pulled “her” aside and said not so politely that if he didn’t stop telling people what had happened, that I would break both his arms and his legs…and that was the end of that…”

Billy Corgan on Livejournal retelling his sexual encounter with a trans woman

Oh, Billy. Advocating violence against trans-people to hide your own shame? Tsk, tsk. Despite all your rage you are still just a rat in a cage. (And you peaked in the 90s.)

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Billy Corgan’s transphobic comments hit all the wrong notes. But if you’re looking for a harmonious source of LGBTQ+ news, subscribe to the Queerty newsletter! We promise, our news is always on key.