Just when you thought it was safe to go outside, Billy Corgan and Anderson Cooper are at each others’ throats again. Less than a month after their initial Twitter tiff, Smashing Pumpkins debuted a piece of merchandise at their Chicago show on Wednesday that might upset the CNN newscaster. On the band’s newest t-shirt, Corgan’s felines Mr. Thom and Sammi get a starring role, but everything isn’t all cute cats and internet memes. In big block text, the shirt reads “F—k You Anderson Cooper.”
The initial conflict between the A-list alt-rockers and America’s preeminent cable new anchor flared up when Cooper used a segment on his show to poke fun at Corgan’s appearance on the cover of the for-charity cat magazine PAWS Chicago and in a commercial for a Chicago-area furniture store. Corgan fired back immediately on Twitter calling Cooper a “globalist shill,” but this new t-shirt seems to send an even more direct message.
In a more positive vein, the Pumpkins used their hometown show to debut a whole bunch of songs live including a number of songs from their forthcoming Monuments to an Elegy and a ripping cover of David Bowie’s “Fame.” Stereogum reports that this was their first show with their new lineup, which includes Rage Against The Machine’s Brad Wilk and the Killers’ Mark Stoermer. Check out video of “Fame” above, courtesy Stereogum.
