Update: Phil Anselmo has released a video apologizing for his insensitive words at Dimebash, saying that he is “extremely apologetic to anyone that took offense to what I said.” Watch below.
The highlight of last weekend’s Dimebash, the annual celebration of Pantera’s late guitarist Dimebag Darrell, was Dave Grohl and some metal greats playing a tribute to Motörhead’s Lemmy. Well, now that nice moment has been ruined by a racist one.
After finishing a performance of “Walk,” Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo threw up a Nazi salute and bellowed “white power” at the crowd. “A very sad moment and to me ruined the night!,” wrote the audience member who captured the sieg heil and uploaded it to YouTube. “This is not what Pantera is about!!! Absolutely uncalled for and I can see why Vinny Paul wants nothing to do with this man. Phil Anselmo you are a Racist prick!!”
Speaking to Loudwire, Anselmo tried to explain that he was joking. “Ok folks, I’ll own this one, but dammit, I was joking, and the ‘inside joke of the night’ was because we were drinking f**king white wine.”
“Some of y’all need to thicken up your skin,” he continued. “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.”
Having established that Anselmo is not apologizing for “jokingly” promoting the extinction of all non-white races, imagine how funny and welcoming this inside joke probably was to all the minorities in the Dimebash audience.
