Pink Floyd bassist, singer and main lyricist Roger Waters has always expressed his political views through his lyrics and live shows. Over the past decades, he has become even more outspoken about his views on various countries and political leaders. While most bands avoid taking sides and prefer not to get involved in politics, Waters has called on artists to fight for causes.
During Metallica‘s recent shows at the Sphere in Las Vegas, James Hetfield, who has been a Republican Party sympathizer for a long time, said: “Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their bull—-, OK? We’re here to forget about all of the outside shit. Metallica’s agenda is love, energy, and heavy music, baby!”
This statement comes ahead of the midterm elections in the United States, as many artists are mobilizing to campaign for the Democratic Party against Donald Trump, whose approval rating stands at just 32% of the American population, according to a recent Reuters poll. Last week the festival Power to the People, organized by RATM’s Tom Morello, to encourage people to vote also happened, with many special guests like Bruce Springsteen, Stephen Stills, Dave Grohl, Geezer Butler and more.
What Roger Waters said about James Hetfield’s apolitical speech
In an interview with Katie Halper Show podcast, Waters talked about Hetfield’s statement calling him a “prick”. “Can we stop talking about this prick? I’m so bored with him. He’s just showing that he’s a complete prick. He’s got an IQ of about three and why we’re talking about him, I honestly don’t know because he’s a nobody and he’ll always be. He may have a few hundred million dollars or whatever, but he’s a prick and he’s no musician. I heard them. I told you I heard them playing acoustic instruments and they couldn’t. It was appalling.”
“Obviously I wish he had grown up with a mama or a dad or a friend or even a cousin or somebody in the family who taken him to one side when he was little. It’s a shame this prick didn’t have somebody around him to explain that being kind is way more important than all that loud music and bouncing around and whatever. Being kind, have some empathy for your fellow human beings because we need that to spread through across the whole world,” Roger Waters said.