Killswitch Engage’s Jesse Leach Thinks the Metal Community Was Too Quiet About the Murder of George Floyd
In a new interview with HardDrive Radio’s Lou Brutus, Killswitch Engage frontman Jesse Leach says he believes the metal community was too quiet about the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing Black Lives Matter protests.
Appearing on the program with Machine Head’s Robb Flynn to discuss their BLM-themed song “Stop the Bleeding,” Leach said:
“[It was important] having us represent the metal community. And not everyone may agree with it for whatever reason, ’cause there’s always discussion about it. But to me, it was, like, ‘Where’s the voice coming from the metal community? There’s no one speaking out about it. This is a really fucked up thing that happened.’ And it was just all quiet. So when I saw Robb, I was, like, ‘Yo, this is what we need to do’ — hopefully spark people to start discussing it, ’cause it was just crickets.”
Asked why he thought this was the case, Leach replied:
“My personal opinion is there’s a weird sort of split with people where the moment you start to criticize the police or you criticize something that someone firmly believes in, a.k.a. Trump. Some people, when you start to criticize Trump, they get on this crazy tirade, this crazy defensiveness that is ingrained in them, I believe, from whether the way they were raised or what they’re reading in the media.
“My whole take on it is this: I’m not left; I’m not right. don’t care about that stuff. I care about what’s right and what’s wrong. And to me, what I’m seeing is happening is wrong. I don’t care how you wanna paint it. You wanna talk about, ‘Well, white people are being killed too.’ Black people are saying, ‘Leave that alone.’ Right now, we need to give black people [an opportunity] to speak. ‘Cause it’s not just this one thing.
“We’re talking about decades, we’re talking about centuries of oppression. This is a huge, large, deep issue, and this just sparked it off. I mean, look, the rioting, the protesting is still happening. This is a deep-rooted wound that needs to be addressed. And if it’s not gonna be addressed and people are gonna continue to try and silence it and change the subject, you’re gonna make it worse — you’re just gonna make it worse. And we need to figure out a common ground to stand on to discuss these things and hopefully create some kind of a change that can help with this situation. It’s not just gonna go away.”
While little of what Leach says is “wrong” per se, it is worth noting that the metal community absolutely did NOT shy away from discussing the murder of Floyd and Black Lives Matter. Some examples are as follows:
- M. Shadows Supports the Black Lives Matter Movement in New Op-Ed
- Watch Fever 333 Frontman Jason Aalon Butler’s Rousing Black Lives Matter Speech
- Black Sabbath Release Black Lives Matter T-Shirt for Charity
- Dino Cazares Praises Black Lives Matter-Themed Fear Factory Cover
- Insane Clown Posse Release “Fuck Your Rebel Flag” T-Shirt
You can check out the complete interview with Leach and Flynn below.
[via The PRP]
