The Haunted’s Ola Englund has spoken out about Phil Anelmo controversy: “It’s a stupid thing to do, joke or not.”
The Haunted’s Ola Englund has commented on the recent cancellations of upcoming Pantera concerts as a result of the past controversial actions of frontman Phil Anselmo.
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The cancellations come after German festivals Rock am Ring, and Rock im Park announced that the band will not be performing at either venue after “many intensive conversations with artists, our partners and you, the festival fans”, and was reportedly motivated by Phil Anslemo’s racist outburst at the 2016 Dimebag Darrel tribute concert, where the Pantera frontman made Nazi salutes and shouted “white power”. Instead, the band are being replaced by Foo Fighters.
Soon after, Pantera’s show in Vienna was also cancelled. The frontman has since issued several apologies, claiming that his previous actions were not reflective of his real values.
As a result, fellow musician and youtuber Englund addressed Anselemo’s past actions, and them a “stupid thing to do, joke or not.”
“Stupid thing to do, joke or not. What Anselmo did during the ‘Dimebash’ in 2016 – it’s very serious, and I gotta be honest, it did shift my views about Phil Anselmo. Was his apology legit? I probably think it was legit. But it doesn’t make the situation better because of it.
“Did it make me stop listening to Pantera? No, definitely not. Pantera is more than Phil Anselmo; that’s the music I grew up with. And I love Pantera, man, that’s what makes this situation so shitty at the back of my head. I sort of saw this coming, that this would get surfaced again, seeing that they are doing the Pantera tribute right now.”
This is not the first time that Anselmo has been accused of racism In 1994, a reporter for MTV questioned him over elements of racism in his lyrics, and a year later Anselmo reportedly told a crowd that Pantera shows were “a white thing”.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
