Some Stranger Things fans are turning against Metallica in a seeming attempt to "cancel" the metal band after learning more about their past.
One of the songs of Metallica featured in Stranger Things season 4 which gave the band a huge boost in popularity. But now they are being scrutinised by many of those younger fans after a TikTok video alleging their ‘problematic’ behaviour went viral.
The Metallica backlash started last week with a video made by TikTok user Serena Trueblood. The influencer hosts a fan series on TikTok called "Is Your Fav Problematic" that covers many different musical artists.
The video featured footage of former bassist Jason Newsted appearing to do a Nazi salute onstage in Moscow in 1991, as well as band members making jokes onstage about the then-recent death of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain.
In the video, Metallica frontman James Hetfield was also accused of racism and featured a clip of Guns ‘n’ Roses backing singer Roberta Freeman speaking on the Appetite for Distortion podcast in 2020 and alleging Hetfield used the N-word to describe Ice-T while the two rock acts toured together in 1992.
Watch the video below.
https://www.tiktok.com/@serenatrueblood/video/7128697743534476587
After the release of the video, some fans responded with regret for their recent Metallica purchases. While others have defended the band on Twitter and TikTok. One tweet summarized, "The fact metallica welcomed and defended all the new fans that came from the stranger things fandom and they've gone and THROWN IT BACK IN THEIR FACES…"
But another agreed with Trueblood, saying, "Metallica fans proving they're racist lmao." Yet another replied to the drama, "Search Metallica cancelled… all about racism etc."
Check out more reactions below.
metallica defending new fans and then those exact people canceling them 2 weeks later is so incredibly funny to me 😭
— tammy (@duffsvelvet) August 7, 2022
metallica is a horrible band that should be cancelled. that being said, you should give your tickets to me
— kyle ★ (@kylereallysucks) August 8, 2022
Never in my life did I expect Metallica to get cancelled but here we are
— Evan | DEATH IS LITTLE MORE (@MyBussyInBloom) August 7, 2022
nothing on twitter recently has been as funny as metallica getting cancelled by tiktok
— carly (@bloodwoodflower) August 7, 2022
metallica getting cancelled by stranger things fans was extremely predictable, it was nice while it lasted i guess
— Ella Carmel (@5ftjewishbitch) August 7, 2022
https://twitter.com/sumrocksumroll/status/1556321801612828672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1556321801612828672%7Ctwgr%5E2a3392cb38161f4229c0dc6a69d54fdac4e9acb9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Floudwire.com%2Fmetallica-problematic-stranger-things-fans-cancelled-video-serena-trueblood%2F
https://twitter.com/cuntdisorder/status/1555916316288192516?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1555916316288192516%7Ctwgr%5E2a3392cb38161f4229c0dc6a69d54fdac4e9acb9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Floudwire.com%2Fmetallica-problematic-stranger-things-fans-cancelled-video-serena-trueblood%2F
if y'all are not going to listen to metallica anymore because they are problematic, then dont listen to any metal music,,,,,,,
— vick vaporub (@pantanodelvacio) August 7, 2022
So apparently Metallica is being cancelled because of James’ iron cross guitar and because Axl Rose- Axl Rose of all people called him racist for not wanting to contribute to an album with him and Ice T the rapper.
— Viliana Rancheva (@thelastTimeLotd) August 8, 2022
stranger things/eddie stans trying to cancel metallica now for their problematic past is funny to me idc 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/khUqFnOiws
— roxy🥀 (@corpsebridey) August 7, 2022
https://twitter.com/Jaymzbrainrot/status/1556399960194785286?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1556399960194785286%7Ctwgr%5E2a3392cb38161f4229c0dc6a69d54fdac4e9acb9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Floudwire.com%2Fmetallica-problematic-stranger-things-fans-cancelled-video-serena-trueblood%2F
I think my favorite thing about the Metallica situation is Axl being used as a source 💀
— waylon ✡︎ (@GHOSTTWNTRIUMPH) August 7, 2022
https://twitter.com/chiliangelis/status/1556218621650784257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1556218621650784257%7Ctwgr%5E2a3392cb38161f4229c0dc6a69d54fdac4e9acb9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Floudwire.com%2Fmetallica-problematic-stranger-things-fans-cancelled-video-serena-trueblood%2F
Now that Metallica is cancelled time to bring this back 🤪 pic.twitter.com/LwnNCA0UWQ
— waylon ✡︎ (@GHOSTTWNTRIUMPH) August 7, 2022
https://twitter.com/grungexgod/status/1556282071756247041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1556282071756247041%7Ctwgr%5E2a3392cb38161f4229c0dc6a69d54fdac4e9acb9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Floudwire.com%2Fmetallica-problematic-stranger-things-fans-cancelled-video-serena-trueblood%2F
i cancelled metallica long ago. can’t stand their stanky ass 🙄🙄
— farah (@lNFERNALDEATH) August 7, 2022
I'm sure the guys of Metallica are just shaking in their boots about being cancelled by a bunch of kids that only discovered who they are last month and their discovery of the bad shit the band has done but has been public knowledge for decades, which they have learned from 🙁
— wekilledit (@iamwekilledit) August 7, 2022
To summarize:
Metallica did some Nazi salutes and marching one time on stage, motioned like sticking drug needles in their arms
Hetfield said some things that could be construed as racist, Axl Rose is a key source of this info
— Paradigm Dreamspace 𓅃 (@Paradigm_DS) August 8, 2022
