Slipknot's Corey Taylor discussed racism in the heavy metal community in an interview after video footage emerged of former Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo performing a Nazi salute at a rock festival last month.
"I don't ever want our fans to feel like we're judging them because of color, religion, culture, upbringing, etc. We welcome everyone, we always have and we always will," Taylor said, according to The Guardian.
Anselmo sparked backlash from the metal community after a fan-captured video emerged of the musician giving a Nazi salute and shouting "white power" during a "Dimebash" gig a couple of weeks ago, as HNGN previously reported.
When asked about the incident, Taylor had this to say: "This is a bigger problem than what happened that night. Slipknot has dedicated itself to bringing people together, to fighting racism, to fighting hate in general since the day we were started. I don't have time for people who judge other people by the color of their skin. If that in itself offends some of my fans, then I'm sorry, you're wrong."
Taylor also said that racism is an evil faced across all genres of music and is not only a "metal thing." He added that racism has "risen its ugly head" in the metal community only as a result of Anselmo's controversial incident and "it will take very little to eradicate racism from metal because the majority of it isn't racist."
Anselmo refused to apologize for the actions initially but later retraced his steps and issued a formal apology on his official website. "My biggest obstacle(s) are the over-indulging in the booze and blurting out spiteful, ignorant reductions of the human spirit itself," Anselmo said in the statement.
"I'm repulsed by my own actions, and the self-loathing I'm going through right now is justified by the hurt I've caused," he added. "From the bottom of my heart, and with all sincerity, I once again am truly sorry for the pain I have caused."
Watch video footage of the incident below:
