Slayer’s Tom Araya Says America Has Become ‘A Nation of Crybabies’
The metal god fired back at “snowflakes” who blasted his Instagram selfie with President Trump.
Slayer singer and bassist Tom Araya has called America “a nation of crybabies” in response to the angry comments he received after sharing a photo of President Trump on Instagram.
The controversy began on Inauguration Day back in January, when Araya posted this photo to Slayer’s official Instagram page depicting Trump throwing up metal “devil horns” in front of the band.
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Rolling Stone reports that it was taken down and then re-posted a few days later. Included in the re-post was this caption:
“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 .”
During a recent interview with Chilean radio station Futuro 88.9, Araya responded to a question about the controversy.
“[America has] become a bunch of people that, because they didn’t get their way, they’re mad. I shared a picture that I thought was funny and they can’t even joke,” he said.
“They can’t even laugh at themselves, they can’t even have fun. And that just is amazing that it’s come to that. We’re a nation of crybabies.”
Araya also explained that he did not intend to make a political statement by posting the photo, but did it because he thought it was funny and would “piss people off.”
“I was taken back by the response and how people reacted, but it was all in fun and it was all to make people laugh because I thought it was funny. And also to piss some people off — I just didn’t realize I was going to piss so many Slayer fans off.”
The thrash metal legend added that he didn’t vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton, saying, “Those are two people that are the furthest from [someone] that I would ever vote for.”
Slayer chose to keep the re-posted photo on their Instagram page, but told Rolling Stone that the post was Araya’s idea and the image “doesn’t belong on a Slayer social page.”
“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.”
Sounds like if Araya’s goal was to piss people off, it’s mission accomplished.