Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds said some incendiary things during a recent interview with Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta on The Jasta Show recently, leading to his band apologizing on his behalf for some course language.
Among Hinds' comments, the guitarist used some outdated language to describe opening for Disturbed saying “I did a lot of tours I didn’t want to do though, like Disturbed and all that Mayhem stupid bullshit. Gay ass shit. You gotta fuckin’ open up for Disturbed. You gotta play to people that like Disturbed.”
LGBTQ writer Morgan Y Evans, who writes for the website Metal Riot, left a comment on Mastodon's Instagram page, under a photo from Brann Dailor dressed as Judas Priest frontman and LGBTQ icon Rob Halford, and the comment explained her discomfort with Brent's language:
“As an lgbtq supporter of the band who has seen you live 3x, written you up many times in magazines and effin flew once to NOLA to see you from NY State, it was super crappy today to see you all over the press w a member using homophobic language to describe a tour with @disturbed . Super not effin cool in 2021. Or is it just a costume to y;all, I love your music and am super pissed at the casual disregard and privilege it takes to still use g^y as a nagative [sic] word in 2021 and normalize that kind of association. Not supporting the band anymore unless there is a formal apology and will actively tell as many metalheads as I know, not that it will make a difference. But i would really like to see you reprimand that crap and own it. Not cool. Total BS. I literally bought the last cd copy of Lifesblood from you guys at contamination like 20 years ago and feel like total dog doo today after reading that Brent lazy bs.”
Evans noted that drummer Brann Dailor contacted her through DMs and apologized for Brent's behavior. Brann then posted this as a public comment in response to Evans.
This really bums me out. I’m very sorry we hurt your feelings or anyone else’s, that is never our intention. We want our LGBTQ fans to feel safe listening to our music and coming to see us live. We also have no ill will towards Disturbed, they were always super cool to us on the Mayhem tour. I think that interviewer might have caught Brent on a bad day. Sorry for upsetting you or anyone else, we appreciate you and all of our fans very much.
In the private exchange, Dailor noted that Brent doesn't typically do interviews on behalf of the band. We're starting to understand why. If this is a learning moment for Brent and the band, and they see that they are using outdated language, I see no reason why they can't be forgiven.
