Philip Anselmo's DOWN and SUPERJOINT bandmate Jimmy Bower (pictured) says that the former PANTERA frontman didn't serve the massive online bashing that he received after being filmed earlier in the year giving a Nazi salute and shouting "white power" at a California concert. Anselmo performed the PANTERA classic "Walk" at the January 22 "Dimebash" event at the Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood, California in honor of late PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. As he left the stage, he made a Nazi-style salute. He appeared to say "white power" as he made the gesture, but he later claimed he was referring to drinking white wine as part of an "inside joke." Speaking to "The Classic Metal Show", Bower defended his longtime friend and bandmate, saying (hear audio below): "I don't deny that what he did was wrong, you know, but he's a good person. He was fucked up, man, and I just think the way that it was handled and the way that… You didn't have social media ten [or] fifteen years ago, and you really have to understand the sense of humor that we have — it's massively dark. And who doesn't like jokes of every sort of thing or whatever. " He continued: "I'm not Phil, but I know Phil — he's my brother, man — and it was just an unfortunate thing that happened. And now you have fucking social media, where everybody's a keyboard warrior. And fucking Robb Flynn [MACHINE HEAD frontman, who uploaded an eleven-minute video response to the incident in which he called Anselmo a 'big bully' and described Philip's behavior as 'fucking wrong'] didn't help at all. I don't even listen to that kind of music, man, and it's, like, they [MACHINE HEAD] toured with PANTERA back in the day. Probably fifty percent of the reason why they [MACHINE HEAD] have any success at all is just… It's that old saying, man: when you're down, people are gonna kick you, man." Bower went on to say: "Phil is not what everybody says that he is, and I think a lot of people know that, but then you have a lot of other people that are fucking bored and are just gonna stir shit, because that's what they do, you know? He's a real intense person, man, and intense people that are in the public view always get scrutinized, and he's just a victim of that. And the cool thing about Phil is he doesn't give a fat fuck, which is killer. He's, like, 'They can say what they want,' and all this. He just doesn't really read into it that much. He's a real down-to-earth guy. He lives and breathes fucking, just like most of us. And one thing people… I don't think people realize how fucking bummed out and how really hard he took all the negativity; that hasn't really been talked about. And just talking to him on the phone and even amongst friends, just being real… just kind of down and out about it… We're trying to just… 'Dude, it's gonna be all right,' and everything like that. [That's] what friends do. Bower also blamed at least some of the ensuing controversy on the politically correct environment where one is expected to be careful with their language choices. "To me, I mean, look at bands like… When we were growing up, you wrote lyrics to piss people off, you played shows, you tried to piss people off. And now, it's, like, if you try and piss people off, they're all fucking P.C." he explained. "I don't even know… What happened? Literally, what happened? I don't get it." He added: "It really sucked, man, because I don't think he deserved all that. You've gotta take what he did as a grain of salt. He's an extreme dude." Anselmo recently gave an interview to Decibel in which dismissed any suggestion that he is racist. "First and foremost, I do take full accountability," he told the magazine. "I'm not deflecting at all. What I did was insulting, absolutely, and abhorrent, because it did truly upset people, and it hurts my heart that anyone would think that I'm the dreaded 'R' word — a racist. Anyone who truly knows me knows that it's utterly ridiculous." Anselmo added that he was "absolutely smashed drunk" the night of the incident and claimed he yelled "White power!" and threw the Nazi salute because he was joking about drinking white wine backstage and because he was reacting to the audience members up front who he said were taunting him.
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