Anthrax’s Scott Ian urges Phil Anselmo to make Jewish charity donation

Metal frontman labels Anselmo's Nazi salute incident as 'vile'

Anthrax‘s Scott Ian has released a statement in which he criticises the “vile” actions of Phil Anselmo.

Former Pantera frontman Anselmo was forced to apologise after performing a Nazi salute and shouting ‘White Power!’ at a recent live performance, actions that he previously had dismissed as a “joke”.

Anselmo was caught on film making the salute at the end of his performance at Dimebash 2016, a festival held in Hollywood in tribute to the late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell. In the days following the incident, Anselmo had been accused of racism by peers including Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn.

Advertisement

Now Ian, who is himself Jewish, has issued a statement in which he labels Anselmo’s actions as “vile” and urges the singer to make a donation to Jewish human rights organisation, the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

NMEGetty

“Friends. Hate speech. Racism. Inflammatory rhetoric. All dangerous no matter what the context. I have zero tolerance for any of this and to not speak out against them is as dangerous as the acts themselves,” the statement, posted to Instagram, begins.

“Philip’s actions were vile and that should be the focus here, anything else is just noise. Philip has apologised and I would like to offer him the opportunity to really show how much he loves everyone by making a donation to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.”

READ MORE: How The Metal World Condemned Phil Anselmo’s Nazi Salute And White Power Message

Anselmo later apologised for the incident in a video uploaded to YouTube (see beneath). “I’m here to basically respond to all the heat I’ve been getting that I deserve completely,” he said. “Heavy emotions were flowing, jokes were made backstage, that transpired upon the stage, and it was ugly, it was uncalled for, and anyone who knows me and my true nature knows that I don’t believe in any of that.”

“I don’t want to be part of any group,” he continued. “I’m an individual and I am a thousand percent apologetic to anyone that took offence to what I said, because you should have taken offence to what I said. And I am so sorry. I hope you give me another chance… I love all of you. Anyone who knows me knows that I love all of you. Bless you.”

Advertisement

Watch videos of both the original incident and Anselmo’s apology below.

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories