THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN frontman Greg Puciato says that "doesn't care" whether Philip Anselmo gets forgiven or not for his "white power" gesture at a recent concert, explaining that he hasn't "given a shit" about anything the former PANTERA singer has done since the band's "Far Beyond Driven" album. Anselmo performed the PANTERA classic "Walk" at the January 22 "Dimebash" event at the Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood, California in honor of his former bandmate, 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." Anselmo has since released a video message, saying that he "deserves completely" the "heat" that he has been getting over his actions and claiming to be "a thousand percent apologetic to anyone that took offense to what [he] said." In a brand new interview with Australia's Sticks For Stones, Puciato was asked whether he thinks Anselmo should be forgiven for his actions or not. He responded (hear audio below): "I mean, I think it's unfortunate just because, you know when you… Metal has a hard enough time. Metal and rock have a hard enough time, I think, getting taken seriously, and a lot of the reason why is stuff like this happens and then the outside world just sees that." He continued: "[When you are into] rock and metal, people treat you like you're an actor that came from porn, or you're an athlete that came from fucking professional wrestling. They act like it's a fucking circus, and the reason they act like it's a circus is because the only thing that people see outside of it that don't know anything about it is they hear something like this. They hear, 'Oh, this guy from this band is fucking 'sieg-heiling' on stage and yelling 'white power.'' And everyone goes, 'Of course that's what he did. He's in a fucking heavy metal band. They're all a bunch of fucking retards.' That's what people say outside of it. It's really bad for the genre, but it's just offensive, man." Puciato went on to say: "I don't particularly care whether he gets forgiven or not, 'cause I don't give a shit about anything he's done since [PANTERA's] 'Far Beyond Driven' [album]. So I truly don't care. I don't pay attention to it. I just feel bad on a humanistic level. I don't care about whether he is forgiven, or about PANTERA, or anything like that. I just care on a humanistic level. There's people that are probably fans of him that are fucking extremely bummed out now. And not just bummed the way I am, or the way you are, but bummed because it directly, personally offends them. They're black or they're Jewish or they're Asian, or they're not fucking white." Greg added: "It's fucking 2016, man. You might as well fucking yell out fucking, 'Burn f*ggots at the stake' while you are on stage or something like that. It's just, like, c'mon, man." Several notable musicians have come out and criticized Anselmo for his actions, including MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn, 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."
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