Back in the ’90s, there were many, many rumors that Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo was a virulent racist — rumors that were really only rumors because we didn’t have YouTube to circulate videos like this. Well, now it looks like that stuff is going to be even harder to ignore. Last weekend in Hollywood, Anselmo fronted an all-star tribute to his late Pantera bandmate Dimebag Darrell, running back some classic old metal songs with friends like Dave Grohl and Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. (We posted video of them covering Motörhead’s “Ace Of Spades.”) And as Noisey points out, Anselmo ended a performance of Pantera’s “Walk” by throwing a Nazi salute and yelling “white power!” I’d like to say that it’s not entirely clear what happened, but no, that’s definitely what he did. Here’s the fan-made video:

Noisey reports that Anselmo jumped into the video’s YouTube comments to defend himself, saying it was all an inside joke:

Ok folks, I’ll own this one, but dammit, I was joking, and the “inside joke of the night” was because we were drinking fucking white wine, hahaha…
Of all fucking things.
Some of y’all need to thicken up your skin.
There’s plenty of fuckers to pick on with a more realistic agenda.
I fucking love everyone, I fucking loathe everyone, and that’s that.
No apologies from me.
PHA ’16

That’s not a very good explanation!

UPDATE: NME reports that Anselmo has issued a formal apology:

Philip H Anselmo here, and I’m here to basically respond to all the heat I’ve been getting that I deserve completely. I was at the Dimebash and it was extremely late at night, there was heavy-duty talk between myself and those who love Dime. Heavy emotions were flowing, jokes were made backstage, that transpired upon the stage, and it was ugly, it was uncalled for, and anyone who knows me and my true nature knows that I don’t believe in any of that. I don’t want to be part of any group. I’m an individual and I am a thousand percent apologetic to anyone that took offense to what I said, because you should have taken offense to what I said. And I am so sorry. I hope you give me another chance … I love all of you. Anyone who who’s met me, anyone who knows me, knows that I love all of you. Bless you.

Watch the apology in video form below.