Slayer’s Tom Araya on Trump/Instagram Drama: “We’re a Nation of Crybabies”

Did you know that in addition to playing bass, Tom Araya is is an expert executioner? It’s true! For evidence, look no further than this recent interview with Futuro, in which Araya was handed a rope and promptly hung himself.

Asked about this past January’s controversy surrounding his decision to post a Photoshopped image of Slayer and Donald Trump on Instagram, Araya replied:

“That’s what America has become. It’s become a bunch of people that… because they didn’t get their way, they’re mad. I shared a picture that I thought was funny. They can’t even joke. They can’t even laugh at themselves. They can’t even have fun. And that just is amazing that it’s come to that. We’re a nation of crybabies.”

Wow! It’s like just when you thought you couldn’t lose any more respect for Araya, he goes and outdoes himself.

Let’s talk about why this comment is so incredibly dumb.

For one thing, Araya’s memory is selective: he doesn’t address the fact that during the course of the drama, he made an extremely tasteless joke about Mike Pence and so-called “gay conversion therapy,” cracking that it turns “fruits into vegetables.” I’m sure Araya didn’t omit this detail because it makes him look like a terrible person, but instead because… nope, I got nuthin’. Araya definitely omitted this detail because it makes him look like a terrible person.

For another thing, Araya’s statement is just another variation on the same bullshit argument the right has trotted out again and again and again — specifically, that freedom of speech means you can say whatever you want, but no one else can reply to what you’ve said. Which is nonsense.  Araya’s reasoning dictates that no one is really allowed to object to anything anyone says, ever. It was Araya’s right to post the image; it was the fans’ right to tell him to go suck an egg. If that makes the fans crybabies, then Araya is a crybaby for whining about the fans’ whining. Worse, by Araya’s logic, Slayer are crybabies, too — they’ve been bitching about war and religion for 30+ years. The Pope could release a statement tomorrow chastising Slayer for “being mad because they didn’t get their way,” and Araya would have no counterargument.

But yeah no. The fans are crybabies who are just upset they didn’t get their way. Sure, Tom. Whatever you say.

[via Metal Injection]