You might look at the Lostprophets music video for “Last Summer” differently now.
What was once a sunny, nostalgic video featuring skateboarders shredding through the streets now carries a much darker context.
Ian Watkins, the former lead singer of Lostprophets, who was serving a 35-year sentence for multiple child sex offences, has been killed in prison, according to British media reports.
Watkins, 48, was serving his sentence at Wakefield Prison in northern England. Police said staff called them at 9.39 in the morning reporting an assault on a prisoner. Emergency services responded, but Watkins was pronounced dead at the scene.
The police statement did not directly name him, and they have not responded to further requests for comment.
Watkins’ criminal record is extensive and horrifying. He was convicted in 2013 after pleading guilty to thirteen charges, including two attempted rapes, sexual assaults on children under thirteen, aiding and abetting the sexual assault of a child under thirteen, and conspiring to rape or sexually assault other children under thirteen. He had also admitted to taking and possessing indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornographic images.
While the world remembers Lostprophets for their music, the “Last Summer” video now sits in an uncomfortable position.
The video once offered a glimpse of carefree streets and tricks done in between scenes of band members and summer adventures.
Skateboarding was part of the visual identity of that era, capturing a sense of freedom and youth culture. Now, those same skateboarding clips are overshadowed by the reality of Watkins’ crimes and his death.
With his passing and the nature of his convictions, even the seemingly innocent scenes are hard to watch without the darkness of his legacy looming over them.