It's one step forward, two steps back for Ariel Pink. In an interview with the Guardian, Pink tries his best to shake off the moniker of "most hated man in indie rock" – the Guardian's words, not his – earned by previous remarks about racism ("It’s not illegal to be racist"), corpse-fucking ("I love necrophiliacs" and Madonna (on a "downward slide"). The last comment in particular earned Grimes' wrath, who called out his "delusional misogyny" on Twitter.

"I’d like to get by without making a fool of myself, running my mouth all the time. It’s not helping me," he told the interviewer earnestly, right after stating that Grimes was "completely stupid and retarded" for defending Madonna. Oops. 

"I was only repeating what Interscope told me about why they needed me," Pink explained about the "downward slide" comment. "They’re not my opinions. It’s clickbait journalism. The media lies to us all the time, and we always believe the media. Then Grimes – who’s completely stupid and retarded to believe any of it – jumps in and has her two cents. I’m not a misogynist. Maybe she’s angry that I’m the male version of her, who was at 4AD before her."

Pink very quickly backtracked on Twitter: 

Poor Ariel Pink. He just can't win, can he? 

Listen to "Picture Me Gone", the new single off pom pom, below: