People Are Really Upset That James Hetfield Kills Bears
So remember how James Hetfield likes to go bear hunting, and is even narrating The Hunt, an upcoming History Channel mini-series about that very subject? Well, some fans are really not happy about it. And those unhappy fans have started both a Facebook page, a GoogleSites page, and a petition, all devoted to having ‘Tallica kicked off the bill of the UK’s upcoming Glastonbury Festival. As of this writing, they’ve acquired nearly 2,000 signatures for the petition, and more than 15,ooo “likes” on Facebook. Those are impressive numbers… until you realize that more than 118,000 people attended last year’s Glastonbury Festival — a new record for the event. So the chances of Metallica being booted because 15-17K people are upset seems unlikely… and that’s to say nothing of the devastating financial blow I’m sure would be dealt to the fest’s promoters were they to take such action.
More likely, although still really not at all likely even in the slightest, is that Hetfield might apologize for or disavow bear hunting as a result of the potentially negative publicity this story is attracting. As someone who is far too weak-stomached to ever kill anything himself but who still loves a good burger, I generally do not take an anti-hunting stance, so long as the hunter gets something out of the kill besides just psychological reassurance that his penis is an acceptable size (e.g., food). But seeing as, at least to the best of my knowledge, I neither eat nor wear anything made from bear, I would be totally fine with this outcome. Thing is, negative publicity hasn’t stopped James Hetfield from doing a lot of things, so I don’t know why it would have any effect on him now.
I also think it’s worth mentioning that Hetfield’s hunting really is not news — like I said when The Hunt was first announced, there’s footage of Hetfield discussing and/or actually hunting in both A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica and Some Kind of Monster. So it seems to me like everyone signing this petition is probably not a hardcore or even a softcore Metallica fan.
Which makes sense: not only is Glastonbury not a metal festival, but Metallica are the only metal band booked for this year’s event (other artists performing the same day as they are include Lana Del Rey, Imagine Dragons, and Goldfrapp). I wonder if the extreme music crowd would have been more understanding with regards to Hetfield’s hobby?
[via Metal Injection]
