Photo: Phil Anselmo Was Drinking White Wine the Night of Dimebash (Update: No He Wasn’t)

Update: It has since been pointed out that the beverage in the photo is Deep Eddy Lemon-Flavored vodka, not white wine. Not that it matters.

Original Post: Let me preface this by saying I do not think it negates anything Robb Flynn from Machine Head said in his video earlier today. I believe it was an honest mistake: Flynn didn’t see Anselmo, or anyone else for that matter, drinking white wine. It doesn’t somehow mean that Anselmo isn’t racist. Even before the whole issue of “Was Phil or was Phil not actually drinking white wine?” was raised, Anselmo’s behavior was, as I said yesterday, inexcusable. Dude could have been drinking magic fairy dust and it wouldn’t have changed anything: there’s no evidence to suggest that what he did was a joke, and we should not excuse it as such.

With that being said… I’m posting this because it’s the ethical thing to do.

So.

This photo of Anselmo drinking white wine (with Dime’s widow, Rita Haney) at Dimebash last week was sent to us by John Jarvis. (Interestingly, the photo also has what appears to be an open bottle of Beck’s, the beer he says he saw Anselmo drinking, sitting next to Anselmo.) Jarvis is in the band Scour with Anselmo, and one of his other bands, Fulgora, is signed to Anselmo’s Housecore label (Jarvis is also in Pig Destroyer and Agoraphobic Nosebleed). Jarvis says the photo was taken backstage during the performance; apparently, “white wine helps [Phil’s] vocal chords and give him ‘power’ to sing.” That being said, Jarvis was also very clear that he does not condone Anselmo’s behavior or his “tasteless joke.”

So, Phil was actually been drinking white wine that night. Like I said: this changes nothing.