The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects freedom of speech for all Americans, but that doesn’t mean that words can’t have consequences. And System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan believes that publicly expressing his right wing views has led to him being blackballed by studios and film companies in his native Los Angeles.
Speaking to the Cancelled with Rob Rosen and Desma Simon podcast, Donald Trump-supporter Dolmayan insists that he’s the the “victim” of a McCarthyist blacklist in Hollywood film circles as no-one has expressed an interest in adapting his comic book series Ascenia into a film or television show.
“It’s no different and no better than what happened in the 50s with McCarthyism,” the drummer insists.
“The agency I’m working with, they’re really good people, and they have a bigger… they have a big company to think about,” he continues. “I probably shouldn’t be talking about this, but I always do this to myself. At the end of the day, we may end up working together, and if we don’t we don’t. But I understand where they’re coming from. They have to protect their interests, right?”
Elsewhere in the wide-ranging and provocative interview, Dolmayan insists that the Black Lives Matter movement doesn’t give “two shits about black lives”, and that the organisation is “a democratic fundraising tool of a communist agenda.”
“I will fight to the death for a communist’s right to say what they want to say here in the United States,” the drummer insists. “And I couldn’t be more opposed to the ideology. But I would say this, anybody that is thinking about being vocal, be weary. We are in a society that is hypersensitive right now. And cancel culture is a real thing. And it can really hurt you.”
Meanwhile, System Of A Down will play a special livestream show this weekend in order to raise funds for soldiers wounded in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Artsakh. The event will take place tomorrow (Saturday, January 30) at 9AM Pacific / 12PM Eastern on SOAD’s YouTube channel. The quartet will premiere the video for recent single Genocidal Humanoidz during the event. Assuming that they’re not cancelled, obviously.
