System Of A Down Members Clash Over Trump, Announce Shows With Korn
System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian and drummer John Dolmayan are both extremely vocal about their political views. They also happen to have extremely different political views.
In the wake of the protests over George Floyd’s murder, Tankian took to Instagram to call for Donald Trump’s resignation:
Run Donny run into your bunker. You may be the first US President to do so out of fear of your own citizens. A real leader would address the nation properly and a real man would go face the protestors on the streets in person. But like other corrupt undemocratic leaders in the past, you’ve realized they are not your people as you are not really our President. These protests are not just over race but over institutional injustices beginning with the slave era electoral college that put you in power, K Street lobbying firms, superdelegates of a two party duopolistic Neo-liberal corporatocracy whose day has come. You make antifa a terrorist organization but not the KKK? The lessons of the 2018 peaceful successful revolution in Armenia can be applied in the US and elsewhere in the world. Coordinate online and block every street everywhere and force the regime to resign. The time has come. Your time has come @realdonaldtrump
Meanwhile, Tankian’s bandmate John Dolmayan is making headlines for his support of Trump. “Let’s not let the narrative that’s being spun make us forget the truth of this statement,” he wrote in the caption of a photo of Trump claiming that he has “done more for the black community than any president since Abraham Lincoln.” Dolmayan continued, “The most attacked president in history yet the greatest friend to minorities! Don’t believe it ? Look at the stats. Don’t like it, doesn’t change the truth of it.”
In another post, Dolmayan added, “Injustice breeds injustice, for those of you who vilified me for calling for peaceful protests you should be ashamed of yourselves for perpetuating violence and advocating for mob justice … I don’t care how many of you condemn me for my views and defense of the president, I will fight your attempt to silence any voice that isn’t in line with your perceived morally superior views just as I would fight for your rights to have and express those views I don’t always agree with.”
This isn’t the first time that Tankian and Dolmayan have clashed over politics. Earlier this year, they posted very conflicting messages about Bernie Sanders. But somehow, they are managing to stay in a band together, as System Of A Down recently announced rescheduled dates for upcoming shows with Korn, Faith No More, Helmet, and Russian Circles.