Machine Gun Kelly Clashes with Slipknot Fans at Louder Than Life Festival; Matt Heafy Gets in on the Fun
Machine Gun Kelly is learning the hard way not to fuck with the metal community.
The rapper-turned-rocker, best known for having sexual intercourse with the woman from Transformers, made headlines last week when he ripped on Slipknot on-stage at Chicago’s Riot Fest. Both Slipknot and MGK closed out the fest, albeit on different stages. In an apparent response to ‘Knot frontman Corey Taylor telling an interviewer that he hates “the artists who failed in one genre and decided to go rock,” Machine Gun Kelly (né Switchblade Chabofsky) told the Riot Fest audience that Slipknot were “old weird dudes with masks” and he was happy that he isn’t “50 years old wearing a fucking weird mask on a fucking stage.”
When Metal Twitter started giving MGK a hard time about what he said, he attempted to defend himself by asserting that Taylor was just “mad” because he “did a verse for a song on [Tickets to My Downfall[ album, it was fucking terrible, so i [sic] didn’t use it.” Taylor fired back by sharing a private e-mail exchange in which he declined to be on Tickets to My Downfall after Kelly asked for changes to his Taylor’s proposed guest-verse.
Which brings us to this past weekend’s Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, KY. Whereas Riot Fest is a fairly diverse show (other acts this year included Morrissey and Run the Jewels), Louder Than Life is an almost 100% pure metal event. Machine Gun Kelly was one of the softest acts on a card that also included Metallica, Judas Priest, Korn, Anthrax, Killswitch Engage, and Gojira.
In other words… there were a lot of Maggots in attendance.
So how’d that go for Kelly? Reports The PRP:
“The rapper turned pop-punk musician faced a chorus of boos and a sea of middle fingers throughout his set last night and at one point was seen throwing a punch at an apparently hostile audience member while out in the crowd.”
Trivium’s Matt Heafy has since chimed in via social media as well, satirizing Kelly’s initial jab at Slipknot:
“I’d like to formally diss Machine Gun Kelly for ‘being 31 years old wearing a fucking 16 year old pop punk cosplay identity on a fucking stage.’”
Heafy went to rechristen MGK as “Squirt Gun Smelly” and further elaborated:
“I never thought about [Kelly] till he took a shot at Slipknot – who are a band who’s paved the way for bands like mine. Thousands of bands like mine. Squirt Gun is a clout chaser. And even though it’s all a PR stunt, a shot at SK needs an addressing.”
For his part, Kelly retweeted a fan-filmed video of the crowd singing along (i.e., not booing him) and cried #fakenews:
“i don’t know why the media lies in their narrative against me all the time but all i saw was 20,000 amazing fans at the festival singing every word and 20 angry ones.”
You can watch video of Kelly getting booed and video of Kelly getting cheered below and then decide for yourself what happened. Here’s my opinion: some people booed, some people didn’t, and Kelly probably couldn’t hear any of it in his monitor regardless.
Actually that’s a pretty good metaphor for life right there.
Upcoming Slipknot live dates:
Sep. 28 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre [tickets]
Sep. 29 – Milwaukee, WI – American Family Insurance Amphitheater [tickets]
Oct. 01 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center [tickets]
Oct. 02 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre [tickets]
Oct. 03 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Amphitheater [tickets]
Oct. 05 – Syracuse, NY – Lakeview Amphitheater – Syracuse [tickets]
Oct. 08 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center [tickets]
Oct. 09 – Hartford, CT – XFINITY Theatre [tickets]
Oct. 10 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center [tickets]
Oct. 12 – Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion [tickets]
Oct. 13 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live [tickets]
Oct. 15 – Burgettstown, PA – S&T Bank Music Park [tickets]
Oct. 17 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion [tickets]
Oct. 19 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre [tickets]
Oct. 20 – West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre [tickets]
Oct. 22 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek [tickets]
Oct. 23 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre [tickets]
Oct. 24 – Pelham, AL – Oak Mountain Amphitheatre [tickets]
Oct. 26 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP [tickets]
Oct. 28 – Del Valle, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater [tickets]
Oct. 29 – The Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (no Code Orange) [tickets]
Oct. 30 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion [tickets]
Nov. 01 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater [tickets]
Nov. 02 – Phoenix, AZ – Ak-Chin Pavilion [tickets]
Nov. 05 – Los Angeles, CA — Banc of California Stadium (Knotfest Los Angeles)
