Machine Gun Kelly (aka MGK) is no stranger to headlines. Whether he is claiming to drink the blood of his girlfriend Megan Fox or earning seven Razzie nominations for his directorial debut Good Mourning, the singer-songwriter knows how to get people talking — even if it isn’t always for the right reasons. This week, Machine Gun Kelly has riled up fans yet again, revealing a new (and very intense) black-out tattoo that fills out the entirety of his arms, shoulders and upper chest in deep black ink. So why exactly has the musician opted for the black-out tattoo, and what have fans had to say about it?
MGK’s blackout tattoo, explained
The intense (and undoubtedly painful) new ink takes up the musician’s shoulders and upper chest, with only a few spaces left blank around his lower arms and pectorals. The blank spaces, which are shaped in geometric lines on his arms and as a cross on his chest, reveal the previous tattoos he still sports under the black-out design. Perhaps referencing the cross shape, the singer-songwriter wrote in the caption of his post: “for spiritual purposes only.”
The black-out tattoo was given by celebrity ink artist Roxx, who is known for her opaque designs in the Los Angeles area and once had her work exhibited at London’s Museum of Modern Art. In her own post, Roxx shared the same image of her work on Machine Gun Kelly, and wrote in the caption that she’s “never met a tougher one.”
According to Roxx’s website, the tattooist thinks of designs as “an external representation of the client’s most ideal inner self,” which reflects what some fans consider the meaning behind MGK’s new ink. While some took umbrage with the musician covering tattoos that referenced his hometown of Cleveland, others perceived the black-out as “starting over.”
“He’s changing himself and evolving into something stronger,” one fan wrote. When contacted by The Post, representatives for Roxx confirmed that the tattoo is indeed permanent, and was completed by the artist over the Christmas and New Year period. “MGK was the toughest client she’s ever worked with,” the representative added.
Machine Gun Kelly first teased the new tattoo on February 20, taking to X (formerly known as Twitter) to reveal that he’d been wearing a turtleneck to conceal the healing ink for three months, and was planning to take it off the following day. As for his other tattoos, Machine Gun Kelly has been vocal about his matching ink with Fox, which has come to include the Transformers star’s initials and a voodoo doll on the pair’s ring fingers.