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CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, August 3, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — The “shock metal” band Slipknot, regarded by many as 'satanic,' announced before a Tuesday concert in North Carolina that it is joining forces with Equality NC, an LGBTQ lobby group, to urge its fans to take political action and overturn the state’s HB2 law.
Passed under Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in March 2015, HB2 allows public and private businesses to determine their own bathroom policies but has been widely criticized as discriminating against transgendered people.
The bill overturned a Charlotte city ordinance that forced all public facilities and all restaurants, bars, and other buildings of public accommodation to allow biological males to use women’s restrooms and other facilities, and vice versa.
And Mississippi passed similar legislation — its “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act” (H.B. 1523) — in April under Republican Gov. Phil Bryan.
Both states have since been targeted by highly publicized celebrity protests, with Bruce Springsteen, Michael Moore, Maroon 5, Sharon Stone, Ringo Starr, Jimmy Buffett and Bryan Adams, among others, cancelling dates, movie shoots or declaring they would not set foot in either state.
PayPal also pulled 400 jobs from North Carolina, and an additional 130 businesses threaten the state with economic sanctions.
But Slipknot — a heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa — has opted for another strategy.
“Our fans in North Carolina deserve better, so we decided not to cancel,” the nine-member band, which is on an extended tour with shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, announced in a statement released Tuesday. “We don’t care where you pee — just please flush. It’s pretty simple, really.”
Slipknot has instead “decided to partner with Equality NC, the LGBTQ advocacy group leading the fight against this hateful bill,” it stated. “You can talk to Equality NC at our show about how to get involved, and get registered to vote in NC.”
“We believe that regardless of who you are, or who you love, you shouldn’t have to face hatred at home or in your community,” Slipknot declared, adding: “We’re coming to North Carolina to show our fans that they can make the difference needed to repeal this law and return their state to a place that welcomes everyone and values differences.”
The band, whose members appear onstage in grotesque homemade Halloween masks (bloody, stitched-up clowns are a favorite), is notorious for onstage rage, headbanging, convulsions and profanity, a signature scent obtained by burning camel dung, and “vitriolic anger” manifested in songs as “Wait and Bleed” and “People = Sh*t.”
Members have also, according to Rolling Stone magazine, “teased its curiosities with wild offstage tales about keeping dead birds in jars to facilitate easier mask-puking.”
The current tour was postponed when Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor found out that, allegedly because of his high-velocity headbanging, he had broken his neck without realizing it and had to have surgery.