Eagles Of Death Metal vocalist and guitarist Jesse Hughes has hit out at the recent anti-gun protests, calling them “pathetic and disgusting.”
Hundreds of thousands of people attended hundreds of March For Our Lives rallies across the US and around the world over the weekend – organised following the mass shooting at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in February, which claimed the lives of 17 people.
Hughes, who was onstage with his band at the Bataclan in Paris in November 2015 when terrorists burst in and killed 90 people, previously reported he supported universal gun access.
He said in February 2016: “Did French gun control stop a single fucking person from dying at the Bataclan? If anyone can answer yes, I’d like to hear it. Because I don’t think so.
“I think the only way my mind has been changed is that, maybe, until nobody has guns, everybody has to have them.”
And, following the demonstrations which have called for the implementation of tighter gun control measures in the US, Hughes posted a series of Instagram posts – some of which have now been deleted to give his perspective.
One of the posts shows an illustration which compares turning in a weapon to end gun violence with a man cutting off his penis to prevent rape.
Hughes says: “Obviously, the best thing to do to combat chronic abusers and disregarders of the law (like the law against murder) is to pass another law! Genius! But before we pass this law we’re going to denigrate the memory and curse ourselves by exploiting the death of 16 of our fellow students for a few Facebook likes and some media attention.”
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He continues: “And look how well civil rights abuses as it concerns firearms helped to protect me and my friends in Paris This almost sounds like the plan of like a kid maybe like a high school student. Oh wait, that’s right.
“The Whitney Houston song about letting the children lead the way wasn’t actually had operating paradigm for life. And when the truth don’t line up with your bullshit narrative, just hold your breath and stamp your feet and refused to except it then take multiple days off of school playing hooky at the expense of 16 of your classmates blood. It might be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic and disgusting.”
Hughes adds: “As the survivor of a mass shooting I can tell you from first-hand experience that all of you protesting and taking days off from school insult the memory of those who were killed and abuse and insult me and every other lover of liberty by your every action.
“Long live rock’n’roll and may everyone of these disgusting vile abusers of the dead live as long as possible so they can have the maximum amount of time to endure their shame and be cursed.
The Guardian report that in another post, which has since been deleted, Hughes uploaded the photoshopped image of student protester Emma Gonzalez supposedly ripping up the American Constitution and called her “the awful face of treason.”
The original image actually showed the Parklands survivor tearing a gun target.
Hughes has since said that he’ll check his “politics at the door” on his current Instagram account and will start a second to air his political beliefs.
