Slayer frontman Tom Araya caused a bit of a stir when he posted a photoshopped photo of Slayer's classic lineup with Donald Trump. Another member of the band or their management initially deleted the photo, only for Tom to repost it with the caption "But I never would have guessed that there where so many snowflakes commenting their distaste for the new president. Like him or not, he is the president."
Slayer eventually distanced themselves from the comments, with a statement that read We all have our personal opinions, some of which we have voiced in the past, but Slayer has never endorsed any political party or any candidate, and the band intends to keep it that way." Since then, the band haven't really addressed the subject… until now.
In a new interview with Chilean radio station Futuro, Araya doubled-down on his "joke" post saying he was "taken aback by the response" and he "didn't realize that [he] was gonna piss so many Slayer fans off." Coincidentally, when he originally made the Instagram post, and fans commented in outrage, he contradicted this statement by saying at the time "the picture did exactly what I thought it would do… piss some of you off." So, he knew exactly what he was doing. But okay, let's see what else he says. When discussing the outcry to the photo:
"That's what America has become. It's become a bunch of people that… because they didn't get their way, they're mad. I shared a picture that I thought was funny. They can't even joke. They can't even laugh at themselves. They can't even have fun. And that just is amazing that it's come to that. We're a nation of crybabies. [Laughs]"
He seems to mistake "not being able to take a joke" with fans being offended by a photo that can come off as an endorsement. It was so bad, Slayer made two apologies – one from the band and one from Kerry King who at the time said "Joke or not, my opinion is that our war of words should be with people who don't believe what Slayer is about. NOT with our own fan base."
As for how he got the photo:
"Someone has sent it to my wife on her page. She showed it to me. I laughed. I thought it was funny. And I thought it was funny because of all the rhetoric that Donald Trump is getting and how everybody hates him. And I decided to post the picture. I knew that some people wouldn't like it. You have to do that, though, you know what I mean? I'm in Slayer [laughs], and being in Slayer, sometimes you do stuff like that just to piss people off. [Laughs]"
So Tom even contradicts his earlier statement, in the same interview. Although, he reiterates that he didn't think the reaction would be as negative, and then clarified he did not vote for Trump:
"I didn't realize it was gonna be the way it was, which is blown out of proportion and people saying really mean things," he said. "I'm amazed. I was just amazed at the response, as far as people thinking it's funny and they thought it was great and they support Trump, and other people that didn't like it, they thought it was ugly and they can't believe that I support Trump. [Laughs] I don't even support Trump. I didn't vote for Trump and I didn't vote for Hillary [Clinton]. Those are two people that are the furthest from… that I would ever vote for. I was taken aback by the response and how people reacted. But it was all in fun. It was all to make people laugh, 'cause I thought it was funny. And also to piss some people off. I just didn't realize that I was gonna piss so many Slayer fans off. [Laughs]"
It's weird that Araya acknowledges that he pissed more people off than he intended and then goes on to call the entire nation a nation of crybabies. Is that supposed to ease tensions?
Anywwwwwwaaaay, Slayer is on tour this summer with Lamb of God and Behemoth. We're giving away a part of tickets to each stop of the tour. Sign up to win here.
[via Blabbermouth]
