Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe Doubles Down on Criticism of Elon Musk Over Controversial Salute

Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe has stirred up controversy with his outspoken criticism of Elon Musk following the billionaire’s recent political involvement. The multi-platinum groove metal frontman took issue with Musk after the tech mogul delivered a controversial salute twice onstage during Donald Trump’s January inauguration celebration, an action some have likened to a ‘sieg heil’—a salute historically associated with the Nazi Party. Musk has publicly denied any Nazi affiliation, dismissing the accusations.

Now several weeks into Trump‘s second term, Musk has become further entrenched in U.S. politics, leading the newly formed and widely debated Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to reduce government waste.

During a recent interview with NME, Blythe, who has been promoting his latest book, Just Beyond The Light: Making Peace With The Wars Inside Our Head, doubled down on his criticisms of Musk:

“What I see is not the Italian version of fascism or whatever, not that specific political structure, but the sort of hallmarks and the early signs of that kind of thing. I come from the punk rock scene and we’ve been warning about this for a long time. There’s a band called Corrosion Of Conformity who released a record in the ‘80s called Technocracy, and that’s what we’re heading into now.

When you have the richest man on earth giving what is a Nazi salute… That was not a fucking mistake. He did it twice. People can say he’s self-diagnosed autistic or he was giving his heart, blah, blah, blah. Go fuck yourself, you know? If we are afraid to say, ‘Hey, that’s not cool,’ we’re screwed. I will not swallow that bullshit, and I will not comply with fascism. Fuck you.

I don’t know if you can print this shit or not, but I get very upset about this stuff. It’s dangerous, and you’re seeing it not just in America, but in other parts of the world as well. Power is consolidating. All you have to do is follow the money. If you look at Trump’s inauguration, how many tech billionaires are there? Someone like Elon Musk, he’s not doing it for money, he has all the money in the world. Some of his contemporaries have said that he’s bored with money—now it’s time for power. It’s just obvious, and anyone that can’t see that is blind.”

When asked about the divide between public demand for change and those in positions of power, Blythe responded:

“Well, there is a big difference between me and Elon Musk. With some elected officials, there has got to be common ground, but I don’t trust politicians. I never have. I come from the punk rock scene. I learned my lessons from Black Flag and Sex Pistols. I don’t believe that all politicians are evil, Machiavellian-type people out to get you, though. I believe a lot of them start with an honest intent to serve the people. The problem, I think, is the system, and there’s such a disconnect between the working person and the people in power.

In America, there’s this disconnect where you feel as if your vote doesn’t count—therefore people don’t engage in the political process as much as they could. So I think there is a bit of a disconnect between the common person and people who can affect change. The only way, I think, to change this is to become politically engaged. I believe that apathy and the feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness is what has got us where we are. People want a solution handed to them and, regrettably, that doesn’t work. You have to engage with the world. You have to engage with politics if you’re going to change anything.”

Later in the conversation, Blythe provided an update on the status of new Lamb Of God music:

“…There will definitely be a new record, it’s just a matter of us getting it all together. We’re always writing. I’ve been writing lyrics, my dudes write riffs all the time, and we’re always documenting stuff. For now though, our guitarist, Mark Morton, has got a new solo record (Without The Pain) coming out, so he’s been working on promoting that. I got my book coming out too, so people are always doing various things. But yes, there will most definitely be new Lamb Of God music and it won’t take five years to come out, I promise. As of right now though, there is no concrete release date.”

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