In an interview with ET Canada, James Hetfield commented on Kylie and Kendall Jenner selling “vintage” t-shirts featuring their faces slapped over various iconic rock and metal images, including METALLICA, for $125 a piece.
He tells (as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net): “I guess what they were thinking is, ‘We can do whatever we want.’ To me, it’s disrespectful. We’ve spent 36 years working hard, doing our best to keep a really close connection with people, make every note count, and someone just throws something up over something that we feel… Not that it’s sacred or anything, but show some respect.”
Sharon Osbourne also condemned Kylie and Kendall for their actions, first tweeting: “Girls, you haven’t earned the right to put your face with musical icons. Stick to what you know… lip gloss.”
Sharon also told CBS: “They are doing this for press, like they do everything, and I fell right for it by responding. They’re getting their line up and running by using all these iconic performers to just state that they now have a line of merchandising. They know exactly what they’re doing. They’re not kids. They were brought up in this industry.”
The tees were withdrawn soon after the initial release, with Kylie and Kendall issuing the following statement: “These designs were not well thought out and we deeply apologize to anyone that has been upset and/or offended, especially to the families of the artists.”
