Slayer’s Tom Araya on Trump Photoshop Uproar: America Is ‘A Nation of Crybabies’
Remember when Tom Araya shared a photo of Donald Trump photoshopped into Slayer's lineup via Instagram? A lot of people didn’t take kindly to the gag, attacking Slayer for the absurdist humor. When asked in a new interview about the backlash, Araya stated, “We’re a nation of crybabies.”
Inauguration Day was obviously a rough day for those who are fiercely anti-Trump. The Trump post was deleted from Slayer’s Instagram not long after it caused a stir, with a band representative claiming the pic “does not belong on a Slayer social page.” Guitarist Kerry King added, “My opinion is that our war of words should be with people who don't believe what Slayer is about. NOT with our own fan base." Araya later posted it again with a comment on the fan reaction to the image (see below).
Araya recently spoke with Chilean radio station Futuro, and he went into detail about the uproar. "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.” [Laughs]
Araya added, ”Someone sent it to my wife on her page. She showed it to me. I laughed. I thought it was funny. And I thought it was funny because of all the rhetoric that Donald Trump is getting and how everybody hates him. And I decided to post the picture. I knew that some people wouldn't like it. You have to do that, though, you know what I mean? I'm in Slayer [laughs], and being in Slayer, sometimes you do stuff like that just to piss people off.”
“I don't even support Trump,” Araya declared. “I didn't vote for Trump and I didn't vote for Hillary [Clinton]. Those are two people that are the furthest from… that I would ever vote for. I was taken aback by the response and how people reacted. But it was all in fun. It was all to make people laugh, 'cause I thought it was funny. And also to piss some people off. I just didn't realize that I was gonna piss so many Slayer fans off." [via Blabbermouth]
Slayer members Kerry King and Paul Bostaph both made their issues with Trump known before the election, with Bostaph calling Trump “the biggest joke I’ve ever seen in my life,” and Kerry landing even harder, calling our current president “the biggest liar I’ve ever seen in politics.”
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