Phil Anselmo‘s Down have been kicked off the bill for Dutch festival FortaRock, following the frontman’s recent “white power” stunt.
The Pantera legend caused a right shitstorm at the annual Dimebash concert in Hollywood – in honour of his departed bandmate Dimebag Darrell – after he yelled “white power!” and performed a Nazi-style salute live onstage.
Anselmo has since apologised for the stunt following a backlash from the metal community, explaining that he was referring to drinking white wine as part of an “inside joke”.
But the organisers at FortaRock don’t seem to be laughing.
“After the recent outbursts by singer Phil Anselmo during the Dimebash event in the U.S., his band DOWN is no longer welcome at FortaRock. Anselmo ended the show in the U.S. with a Nazi salute and shouted ‘white power’,” they said in a statement (via Blabbermouth).
“There has been close consultation between all parties recent days, since we wanted to make a well informed decision. On that basis, the decision is made to cancel the act. We want to make clear that there is no room for racism or fascism on FortaRock.”
The 2016 edition of FortaRock is set to take place June 4-5 in Nijmegen, Netherlands, and will feature performances by Volbeat, Megadeth and Disturbed.
But not Anselmo’s New Orleans-based sludge metal act Down, who’ve been officially ousted.
Down were last in Australia as part of the lineup for Soundwave 2014.
You can watch Phil apologise for his ill-advised stunt in the video below, in which he agrees that he “deserves completely” the “heat” that he’s been getting over his actions, and claims to be “a thousand percent apologetic to anyone that took offense to what [he] said”.
This year’s Dimebash event also saw him team up with Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl to lead a supergroup through a performance of Motörhead’s Ace Of Spades in tribute to the late Lemmy Kilmister.
Watch: Phil Anselmo Apology
