Not Every Member of Exodus Is Anti-Vaxx

Earlier this month, Steve “Zetro” Souza — the fifth-best of the four men who have fronted Exodus (including that dude from Skinlab who was in the band for three minutes) — outed himself as an anti-vaxxer:

“They’re forcing you to get a vaccine. Do we live in a socialist society? What happened to ‘My body, my choice’? I don’t understand it. And it’s not about the vaccine not being effective or whatever; it’s about the choice that you’re telling me to. We’re playing a concert with Testament and Death Angel in Oakland, California [at the end of November]. You have to show proof of vaccination to even come in. I think that’s socialist right there. That’s bullshit. What about people that have AIDS? What if people have Hep C? How come they don’t have to show [any kind of proof]…? To me, it’s like anything else — why is this all of a sudden [something that] the government can mandate you?”

I’m not gonna unpack everything wrong with what Souza said here, ’cause I did that already. I will say that Souza’s comments seem all the dumber given that a) he was on tour with a guy who went into a coma as a result of contracting the virus, and b) Exodus drummer Tom Hunting recently underwent treatment for cancer, and is consequently immunocompromised. Like. I dunno how he’s gonna be able to tour with Hunting and Death Angel again and look those dudes in the eyes.

(It’s also worth noting that Exodus did play that Oakland show this weekend, which suggests that Souza himself has been vaccinated. So I guess he’s just talking like an idiot on principle?)

So Souza’s stance would seem odd under any circumstances… but now that Exodus guitarist Gary Holt has called anti-vaxxers “crazy,” you really gotta wonder what’s going on in this band.

Holt’s anti-anti-vaxxer comments arrive courtesy of a new interview with The Aquarian Weekly:

“If everyone would get vaccinated, it wouldn’t have to go on. People say that even when vaccinated, you could still get it. Well, if you could get a vaccine that reduces [a deadly disease] to a nasty cold, you don’t have to overflow the hospitals and you wouldn’t have to have the snowballing amount of problems it is causing. We could get back to normal. Unfortunately, some people are more willing to take a de-worming agent than the vaccine. It is crazy. I wish people would realize that chemists, scientists, and the pharmaceutical companies are responsible for both the vaccines and the de-wormer. There is no logic in the world anymore.”

Holt went on to specifically address the Tom Hunting of it all:

“Tom is immune compromised. He is done with his chemo. After his surgery, they waited enough time for his immune system to build back up and they were going to resume chemo, but after testing they told him that he did not need it. That was the best news we could have received, but right now, we want him at full strength before we immerse him in a Petri dish of people.” 

So it feels like Exodus’ dressing room is probably gonna be pretty awkward for awhile.

You can read the entire interview with Holt here.