ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian has weighed in on last month’s incident when ex-PANTERA singer Philip Anselmo made a “white power” gesture onstage at a concert.
Anselmo performed the PANTERA classic “Walk” at the January 22 “Dimebash” event at the Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood, California in honor of his former bandmate, late PANTERA guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. As he left the stage, he made a Nazi-style salute. He appeared to say “white power” as he made the gesture, but he later claimed he was referring to drinking white wine as part of an “inside joke.” Anselmo has since released a video message, saying that he “deserves completely” the “heat” that he has been getting over his actions and claiming to be “a thousand percent apologetic to anyone that took offense to what [he] said.”
Several notable musicians have come out and criticized Anselmo for his actions, including MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn, who uploaded an eleven-minute video response to the incident in which he called Anselmo a “big bully” and described Philip’s behavior as “fucking wrong.”
Now Ian has offered his opinion, posting a message on his official web site in which he says “Philip’s actions were vile” and insisting that “to not speak out against them is as dangerous as the acts themselves.”
Ian wrote:
“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.
“Philip’s actions were vile and that should be the focus here, anything else is just noise.
“Philip has apologized 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.
“Peace, Scott”
Source: Blabbermouth
