TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider has once again said that he strongly disapproves of President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has been criticized by some parts of the media for downplaying fears about COVID-19 or actively spreading misinformation about its repercussions. The president has since notably dramatically changed his tune about the seriousness of the crisis has been forced to soberly address the coronavirus outbreak. Asked by Paulo Baron, owner of Top Link Music, a producer of rock concerts in Latin America, how he feels about the Trump administration's response to the situation, Snider — who got to know Trump personally after appearing more than once on "The Celebrity Apprentice" — said: "Well, I wanna make something clear: not everybody in the United States had been denying this virus. It's pretty much split down the center, down the middle — half denying, half not denying — and it does start with the president. And yes, I'm extremely disappointed with the way he handled this thing. "We as a country are going to be paying for this for a very long time in a lot of different ways, and not just with the deaths of so many people, to be expected from this virus, but financially, economically. And a lot of this could have been avoided. I mean, certain things were inevitable — the virus was coming, sickness was coming, death was coming. That was inevitable, but the way it was handled, many deaths could have been prevented and we could have been ahead of things instead of behind things. Right now, it feels like, in my country, that we're constantly trying to catch up to the virus as it does what it does. This could have been very different, but we didn't learn from the lessons of others, unfortunately." Snider also talked about the coronavirus's impact on the music business, especially as it relates to concerts and artists' ability to make a living from performing live. "This virus, this time in history will change everything forever," he said. "It will take us a long time to be comfortable again with going to large gatherings and things like that. This is really scary. And I do think that people will explore other alternatives for getting their art out there. "Now, me personally, I didn't announce it in a big way that I was retiring last year, but I may not go back to live playing," he revealed. "I've got a live album coming out. I don't know if I'll do any more new music. But I'm writing books, I'm going into directing and things like that. "As far as concerts go, I think that people will look to find other ways to entertain their audience without going to a concert venue where thousands, or tens of thousands, of people are crowded together in potentially dangerous situations." Last month, Trump said that he knew that COVID-19 was a pandemic before it was declared as such by the World Health Organization, despite his previous rhetoric downplaying the severity of the virus. More than 1.3 million coronavirus cases have been reported worldwide and more than 74,000 deaths so far, putting public health systems and emergency services under immense pressure. Back in November 2017, Snider said that he could no longer be friends with Trump because he did not share the president's views on important issues, including the Trump administration's harsh immigration policy. Snider found himself in the middle of controversy in 2016 when he asked Trump to stop using the 1984 TWISTED SISTER anthem "We're Not Gonna Take It" in his campaign. The singer said at the time that Trump was very gracious about the request.
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