We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.
–Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, Nobel laureate
It seems that I have to detach the artists from their art more and more these days as they reveal some form of latent bigotry that detracts from their work. In the entertainment world, musicians seem particularly prone to offensive indiscretions or, worse, sexual and criminal offences.
As a music enthusiast, I’m often conflicted after learning about a musician’s fall from grace about whether to continue listening to their work. It’s sometimes difficult to separate the art from the artist.
Early in September this year, Ed Sheeran dropped rapper Macklemore from his U.S. tour after Macklemore chose to give a pro-Palestine speech as part of his support act. Macklemore dared to utter two words that never fail to spark waves of feigned anguish in certain parts of the world. Sheeran claimed pro-Zionist stadium owner Robert Kraft gave him an ultimatum to drop Macklemore or face cancellation of his tour. There’s more to this story, so you can follow a blow-by-blow account of the sequence of events here.
I never really liked Ed Sheeran’s romantic whining, so I am not conflicted about listening to his music. I must admit, however, I haven’t heard much of Macklemore’s music beyond Hind’s Hall, a protest anthem supporting pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses. I’m now intrigued to find out more about his music out of sheer respect.
Meanwhile, Metallica frontman James Hetfield, apparently in support of Ed Sheeran, made a remarkably dense announcement mid-show during the band’s current residency at the Las Vegas Sphere.
Unless you live in Vegas, you’ve come a long way to spend some time with Metallica. We’re grateful for that — your travels, the money you spend, the time it took, thanks for coming to celebrate with us. And I just gotta say, Metallica is not here, like some other ‘entertainers’, to influence you with their bullshit, OK? We are here — no bullshit — we’re here to forget about all the outside shit, OK? Metallica’s agenda is love, energy and heavy music, baby!
I’m not sure what induced Hetfield to make such an absurd announcement. Metallica is a heavy-metal band, and their catalogue includes many political protest songs. For example, Hetfield co-wrote the chorus of And Justice for All from their self-titled album, which makes a political statement.
Justice is lost, justice is raped, justice is gone
Pulling your strings, justice is done
Seeking no truth, winning is all
Find it so grim, so true, so real
It’s also hypocritical because of precedent. Hetfield addressed the crowd at Metallica’s WorldWired Tour stop in Edmonton, Alberta, a few days after a white supremacist at a 2017 KKK rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, drove into counterprotesters, killing a protester, Heather Heyer and injuring numerous others.
Metallica doesn’t give a s—, all right? We don’t give a s— about the differences, okay? We care about the similarities. So the fact that you’re here — we don’t care who you voted for, what you do or don’t eat, we don’t care what color your skin is, what you do for a job. We don’t care what you’ve done in the past. What we do care about is the fact that we’re all together here, celebrating life with music. So for me, you are Metallica family. All are welcome. Are you with us?
It’s also not like the band avoids political commentary. Band member Lars Ulrich said in 2016 that he would consider leaving the U.S. and returning to Denmark if Donald Trump won that year’s election. He criticised Trump’s policies and stance on climate change. In the end, he opted to stay and use his platform to be politically vocal. It’s hard to say whether he kept that promise, especially given his silence on the current controversy.
Now, I really, really am a huge fan of Metallica. I won’t stop listening to their music because I refuse to disown the entire band over one member’s bigotry. The incident has, however, soured my impression of Hetfield, but he could redeem himself.
The irony of Hetfield’s announcement is that saying you won’t make a political statement is itself a political statement. It beggars belief that a lyricist could miss that. Perhaps he had a momentary lapse of reason1.
- Momentary Lapse of Reason – Pink Floyd’s first album after Roger Waters’s departure, which lacked Waters’s usual political lyrics and imagery. ↩︎
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