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Phil Anselmo Offers to Quit His Band Following Backlash From Nazi Salute

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 15: Singer Phil Anselmo visits the SiriusXM Studios on August 15, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

Phil Anselmo has offered to quit his band, Down, in the wake of the controversy surrounding the Nazi salute and “white power” chant he threw up at Dimebash last month. Though the former Pantera frontman initially tried to play it off as a joke about white wine and suggesting that “some of y’all need to thicken up your skin,” Down was pulled from the lineup of a Dutch metal festival in response.

Now, in an open letter published to his website, Anselmo has offered an apology with significantly more gravitas in which he’s offered to quit Down so that his bandmates don’t suffer for his mistake. “Every citizen in this entire world has the unalienable right to live with dignity and respect without hate or oppression,” he wrote. “And I mean this, with all of my crushed, yet, guilty heart.”

“Never in my entire lifetime would I drag [my bandmates] down with me, and I’ve privately suggested to them that they move on without me,” he continued. “I’m repulsed by my own actions, and the self-loathing I’m going through right now is justified by the hurt I’ve caused. I realize we live in a society where apologies are NOT accepted easily, yet long for a day when they can be, but I also understand if I’m shunned till I hit the dirt.”

Read the full statement below.

To all this will concern,

Every citizen in this entire world has the unalienable right to live with dignity and respect without hate or oppression. And I mean this, with all of my crushed, yet, guilty heart.

It’s common knowledge that we can choose to either learn from our mistakes, or continue on a path of insensitivity and destruction.

I am utterly responsible for the mistakes I have made, and can only give you my word to no longer do them in the present, through ACTION, not just mere words.

My band mates are now experiencing the consequences of my behavior, and I now publicly apologize to them as well. Never in my entire lifetime would I drag them down with me, and I’ve privately suggested to them that they move on without me.

My biggest obstacle(s) are the over-indulging in the booze and blurting out spiteful, ignorant reductions of the human spirit itself. I will address these issues, head-on.

I’m repulsed by my own actions, and the self-loathing I’m going through right now is justified by the hurt I’ve caused.

I realize we live in a society where apologies are NOT accepted easily, yet long for a day when they can be, but I also understand if I’m shunned till I hit the dirt.

From the bottom of my heart, and with all sincerity, I once again am truly sorry for the pain I have caused.

With truth, love, hope & respect-
Philip H. Anselmo