The first week of Donald Trump’s presidential administration has been met with plenty of controversy and protest from certain quarters. But the rift the new commander in chief has caused among the members Slayer is a bridge too far for some.
The controversy started on Wednesday (Jan 25), when Slayer singer Tom Araya took to the band’s Instagram and re-posted a photoshopped image of the band with new president Trump (which was reportedly taken down after its initial posting last week) along with the message, “Believe it or not this picture was posted by me Tom Araya on 1/20 cause I thought it was funny … I was amazed at the comments about the picture some positive some negative more amazing was in 2 hours there was 10,000 likes … 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 … woke up the next morning and found someone had deleted the post … can some one please explain why…?”
According to Pitchfork, Araya later made what some took to be a homophobic comment when he added in the comments section, “Mike pence turning fruits into vegetables,” seemingly referring to vice president Mike Pence’s alleged history as a supporter of gay conversion therapy. Araya also clarified that he doesn’t speak for the whole band and that the image “did exactly what I thought it would do… pissed some of you off.”
Like, not even getting into the “snowflakes” and “fruits” shit, which is indefensibly gross. pic.twitter.com/s2cyYGtHPu
— Michael Nelson (@nelsonicboom) January 25, 2017
It appears that the rest of the band did not appreciate the gesture. In a statement sent to Billboard by the group’s spokesperson, Slayer wrote, “As was verified by Tom, this was his post, is not something the band would have posted if asked, and does not belong on a Slayer social page. 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.”
Slayer guitarist Kerry King was an avid supporter of Trump’s democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, telling Rolling Stone in July that she he thought she was the “safe, correct choice” for president and referring to Trump as “just a sideshow.”