Slaughter To Prevail Flew Russian Flags During a Performance in Washington D.C. and People are Mad

Over the weekend, Slaughter to Prevail played the Vans Warped Tour show down in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. at the RFK Stadium Grounds. No biggie, it was only the day the No Kings protests against the Cheeto-in-Chief’s deportation efforts and all that, so political tensions were on edge. So when Slaughter To Prevail took to the stage and vocalist Alex Terrible came out waving a Russian flag, it was bound to piss some people off.

You see, Russia and America have been adversarial powers to one another for a long ass time. Lately, it’s felt like a certain tangerine tyrant has been doing everything in his power to help Russian President Vladimir Putin get what he wants, including a weakened American power structure and looking the other way as he seeks the complete annexation of Ukraine through brute force.

Couple all that with the fact that Terrible’s been a lightning rod for controversy over the years in the deathcore scene and this was bound to get some peoples’ hackles raised. He’s long been fervently patriotic for his home country, despite the fact that he said he left because he was being persecuted as a metal musician while living in Russia. In a post on the band’s Instagram following their performance, Terrible said he was happy to be able to wave the Russian flag at the show.

“Im grateful to represent my country worldwide I really want to make this legacy of the Russian heavy metal band smashing the stages everywhere and spreading a good message. Motivate people with our music to not to give up on yourself and do more than you think you can do

@vanswarpedtour we appreciate your hospitality ! Crowd was insane”

After the backlash began blowing up online, however, he issued a much longer statement, lamenting how internet culture has warped everything and that he’s going to continue sharing his opinions moving forward.

You can read the full statement in the image below, but he captioned the post with the following:

“Internet life is a sickness. It’s sad but it’s true. I’m learning to only be a “poster”. I post and leave. Because when I read the comment section it makes me sad and feel like I’ll never be good enough for them.

“Just make your stuff, post and leave.”

All of this comes just weeks after fans got up in arms that Dying Fetus and Suicide Silence were opening for Slaughter to Prevail on an upcoming tour, despite all the controversy surrounding Terrible and the band.

As a proponent of free speech, I think it should go without saying that Terrible should be allowed to wave the Russian flag on American soil. It’s his prerogative. That doesn’t mean he’s free from criticism about that action, given everything that’s going on, but it’s his right. He’s also not wrong about terminally online people needing to get over themselves and touch some fucking grass from time to time.

Still, bro should have known that would have gotten people pissed off. Maybe he did and that was the point.