An iteration of metal band Pantera recently embarked on a reunion tour that will see the group traveling around the globe after a 21-year performing hiatus. While the band has been heralding this as a “celebration” tour, they might be the only ones celebrating after becoming embroiled in controversy due to frontman Phil Anselmo‘s past racist actions.
Earlier this week, German music festivals Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park, respectively, removed Pantera from their lineups after facing backlash for including the band in the first place. Shortly after, Austrian promoters cancelled the band’s upcoming May concert in Vienna. While the Austrian promoters didn’t offer an explanation, metal fans quickly puzzled out the possible reason for the sudden cancellation.
Racism allegations have followed Anselmo almost as soon as the band blew up, but these allegations were treated merely as rumors at the time. The three European shows have been cancelled due to some heinous accusations but for long-time metalheads, this probably doesn’t come as a surprise. Most recently, a video of Anselmo on stage from 2016 went viral for a reason the frontman was not proud of.
Phil Anselmo’s controversy
That year, Anselmo performed in Hollywood at Dimebash, a tribute concert held to honor the memory of late Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. During the concert, Anselmo was filmed raising his arm in a Nazi salute before clearly shouting, “White Power,” and the footage quickly spread among metal fans. A Stereogum article about the incident reports Anselmo eventually commented on the YouTube video, writing that it was a joke about “white wine” made in poor taste before brushing off the criticism.
“Some of y’all need to thicken up your skin. There’s plenty of f**kers to pick on with a more realistic agenda. I f**king love everyone, I f**king loathe everyone, and that’s that. No apologies from me.”
As the backlash grew, an apology was inevitable. Soon after making the reported YouTube comment, Anselmo uploaded an apology video to his label’s channel, saying he was “a thousand percent apologetic to anyone that took offense” to the comments as he “completely deserved” the backlash. In the video, he said the hate speech was “uncalled for” and blamed the incident on “heavy emotions” and inside jokes with other performers.
Reactions to the apology video were split; some fans chose to forgive Anselmo while others pointed out past incidents allegedly involving the frontman. In an interview with Decibel some months after Dimebash, Anselmo denied he’s racist (“I’ve said it throughout the years, but my heroes are Black; they’re Jewish”) and attempts to clarify angry comments made during a 1995 Montreal concert, saying, he didn’t understand the meaning behind the slogan “Stop Black on Black Crime.”
Anselmo may not want to continue apologizing, but we foresee another apology in his future if more venues choose to cancel Pantera’s shows. As of now, the tour is set to continue.