Is Machine Gun Kelly Changing His Name?

Machine Gun Kelly made headlines this week after a video taken at GQ‘s Men Of The Year party found him asking the photographers to solely refer to him as “Machine.”

“Instead of Machine Gun, can you just hit me with Machine next time?” he said.

He also posted it to social media with the same caption — no thoughts, just Machine. This raised questions if he was changing his stage name and dropping the “Gun Kelly.” Now, fans have an answer.

Is Machine Gun Kelly Changing His Name?

(Update: As of February 29, the artist’s profiles on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and YouTube all say “mgk,” stylized in lower-case letters, and not “Machine Gun Kelly.”)

Right now, Machine does plan to keep the full Gun Kelly part of his name, according to Entertainment Weekly. The publication points out that it might have started as a bit from comics Chad & JT, who attended one of MGK’s concerts with a giant sign asking him to change his name.

This caught the musician’s attention on stage, who apparently had no idea what they meant. Chad & JT then explained, jokingly, that they felt his name encouraged machine guns.

Since the video of Machine surfaced, the comedic duo also felt that he had taken their advice.

As for fans, they are both getting in on the joke and speculating if this is the start of a new album era for MGK.

“I think it’s pretty sick that he doesn’t want to be associated w machine guns any longer,” one user commented.

Check out MGK’s post above.