The fallout from Phil Anselmo's grand mistake at the Dimebash of giving the Nazi salute and shouting white power continues. Anselmo has since offered a full apology for his actions, and while some are saying "see, he's sorry, let's move on," it shouldn't be seen as the final step in the road to redeeming his public image, but only the beginning.
No matter how you slice it, joke or otherwise, what Anselmo did was wrong and not indicative of metal culture as a whole. And people in the scene, including Machine Head's Robb Flynn and All Shall Perish, are speaking out. Today, one other notable musician spoke out, Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian. It's no secret Ian is of ye Jewish faith and Ian encouraged Anselmo to take further steps to correct his wrongdoing by donating to some anti-racism charities:
Obviously, we don't think that donating to this charity is the be-all, end-all for Phil, but it would certainly be a nice gesture and another step on the road to recovering his public image. But the best way for people to assume you're not racist? Don't do racist things!
We discussed the controversy a lot on last night's episode of the RIP a Livecast. Here is an excerpt of us discussing Phil's apology. Listen to our entire discussion here.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcLyxQBf6Q4[/youtube]
[via MetalSucks]