Iced Earth’s Jon Schaffer Still Hasn’t Been Charged for Participating in the Capitol Siege
I can’t think of a sensitive way to say this, so I’ll just say it insensitively: Why the fuck hasn’t Iced Earth’s Jon Schaffer been arrested yet?!? The Indiana native was clearly visible in a widely-circulated photo of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol last week, whereupon he was identified by pretty much every metal media outlet in the world. Both the Washington, D.C. police and the FBI have since put the word out that Schaffer is wanted for questioning. I would think that, unless he’s on the lam, it would be fairly easy for law enforcement officials to locate the guitarist and songwriter.
But The Indianapolis Star has now confirmed that Schaffer “has not been charged with a federal crime, according to court records.” Alas, trying to get more specific details from the Feds proved fruitless:
“An FBI spokeswoman in the Indianapolis field office declined to specifically comment about Schaffer or the involvement of anyone else from Indiana in the riot.
“‘Like FBI field offices across the country, FBI Indianapolis is receiving tips regarding Hoosiers who may have been at the Capitol building in Washington, DC Jan. 6,’ Chris Bavender, an FBI Indianapolis spokeswoman, said in a statement. ‘Any subjects that are arrested/indicted will be prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC.’”
The Star says they’ve tried to reach Schaffer via both phone and e-mail with no luck.
Although we don’t know why Schaffer hasn’t been arrested yet, the article does contain some other interesting tidbits of information. For example, if you, like me, were too distracted by Schaffer’s ridiculous Trump/Terminator hoodie to notice his hat, well… it was worth noticing:
“Schaffer is wearing an Oath Keepers ballcap in the photograph. The group characterizes itself as a militia of former law enforcement and military personnel, but is called an extremist anti-government group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.”
Schaffer has not, to the best of our knowledge, ever served in the military or law enforcement.
You can read the entire report here.
Iced Earth vocalist Stu Block recently came under fire for reportedly deleting comments and banning fans who questioned his political views, and for what most certainly was a complete failure to condemn the actions of Jon Schaffer, the Iced Earth guitarist/leader, and Stu’s boss. On Monday, the singer has issued a new statement in which he attempted to explain his behavior. Although that explanation was in some ways helpful, it also fell completely short of the full-throated condemnation many fans were hoping for. You can read the statement here.
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