SKILLET frontman John Cooper isn’t one to shy away from speaking his mind, but his recent comments about RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE seem to have stirred up more controversy than he anticipated.
In a recent interview with Real Talk With Zuby, Cooper opened up about the backlash he’s encountered for sharing his faith in non-religious settings and expressing his views on controversial social and political topics.
He said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “We’re, thank God, a successful band. But, man, the intense backlash about standing up for what you believe, if you’re on the conservative side, or even just the libertarian side, or … they don’t even like Elon Musk anymore. They don’t like Tulsi Gabbard anymore. They hate RFK [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] with a passion now. I mean, it’s really insane. And I think that part of the not having the conversation thing is to do with this fake tolerance because they really believe if I even have a conversation with you, I’m legitimizing a N*zi.
Elsewhere in the interview, he added: “I remember I got in a lot of trouble in 2021 because I was, I think rightly, making fun of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. ‘Cause RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE‘s anti-government and they were doing these, like, vax-only shows. And I just was, like, ‘Well, it’s just crazy that me, the Christian rock star, that I’m the punk rock revolutionary now.'”
Cooper first mentioned RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE during a 2021 interview with Apologia Radio. In the discussion, he argued that COVID-19 vaccines were being used as a tool for government control, claiming they were “more about tyranny than genuinely keeping people safe.”
He said at the time: “A lot the bands, they just don’t know what to do … You’re in an entertainment industry that’s largely driven by social media and media at large. You’re not allowed to speak anything against… I mean, you’ve got RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE telling people that if they don’t get a vaccine… RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE has become the machine. It’s crazy. I’m, like, wait a minute – I’m the revolutionary here? I’m the revolutionary and RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE is just ‘government rock’ now.”
It’s worth noting that RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello has firmly denied that mask and vaccine mandates were ever enforced at the band’s concerts. He previously stated, “While I am a big supporter of science, hear my words: NO RAGE fan was EVER required to present anything other than a ticket to see the band”, he wrote in a social media post earlier this year.”
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