Anthrax’s Scott Ian: Philip Anselmo Should Be Forgiven if He Proves That He Deserves to Be

Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian has weighed in once again on Philip Anselmo’s Dimebash 2016 controversy. After suggesting Anselmo should make amends by donating to a Jewish human rights center, Ian has elaborated on how Phil can get back into the metal community’s good graces.

At Dimebash 2016, Anselmo threw up a Nazi salute and screamed “White power” at the top of his lungs. The footage went viral, as did a scathing 11-minute response from Machine Head’s Robb Flynn, who performed with Anselmo at Dimebash. Ian recently recommended the Simon Wiesenthal Center to be the recipient of a donation from Anselmo, but he’s now spoken further about Phil.

While speaking with Sticks and Stones, Ian said Anselmo deserves to be forgiven “if he proves that he deserves to be.” “Just asking to be forgiven doesn’t mean you should be forgiven,” Ian says. “And I’ve had a running dialogue with Phil since this happened. It’s not like I just posted something online without actually speaking to my friend. I’ve been having a dialogue back and forth with him. ‘Cause if I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have contacted him at all. But I cared. Phil, I’ve known the dude almost thirty years. He’s like a brother; he’s family. And when someone in your family has a problem, you discuss it and you try and find a solution.”

Ian continues, “My attitude towards the whole thing was, to me, silence is complicity. If you don’t say something about something like this, then you’re condoning it, and I can’t condone that in any way, shape or form. It’s not okay in any world, let alone the metal world, to do these kind of things in any type of context, because words are too powerful, especially Phil Anselmo’s words, because there’s too many impressionable people out there who listen to every f—ing thing that dude says.”

Scott also shared an interaction he had with a fan after proposing that Anselmo give to the Wiesenthal Center. “Possibly the stupidest thing that I saw,” Ian describes, “was someone saying to me, ‘Well, why would you want him to donate money to the Simon Wiesenthal Center? That’s a Jewish thing.’ Sorry, to quote, ‘That’s a Jew thing, and ‘white power’ has nothing to do with Jews.’ So that just shows you the ignorance out there.”

Anthrax’s 11th studio album, For All Kings, will see a Feb. 26 release. To pre-order the record, click here.

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