Týr’s Heri Joensen Defends His Participation in Whaling

Týr frontman Heri Joensen has found himself in hot water with some fans as a result of his participation in whaling in his native Faroe Islands.

The controversy began last month, when Joensen posted the below photo on Facebook. It was accompanied by the caption “Real men kill their own meat, like this long-finned pilot whale,” although Joensen later amended the post to explain that the comment “was a bad and poorly phrased joke.”

Unsurprisingly, some of Joensen’s followers bristled at the photo, leading to calls for a boycott and messages such as this:

(“Wage es nicht,” FYI, is German for “Don’t you dare.”)

Joensen has now responded to these criticisms via the below video:

I know nothing about international whaling law, so if there’s a counter argument to be made, I’m ill-equipped to make it. But according to marinebio.org, pilot whales, such as the one in Joensen’s photo, “are not considered endangered.” So Joensen’s argument appears to be sound.

Even if that’s not the case, however, or you simply disagree with Joensen’s stance regardless, you should keep this in mind: the moment you threaten him with physical violence, as the person in the above message does, you forfeit the moral high ground. Don’t wanna support Týr? Don’t buy their albums, don’t go to their shows, don’t buy their merch. Violence solves nothing; all it does is engender more violence. Fuckheads who behave thuggishly give metal a bad name. Don’t be that fuckhead.

Thanks: Mark