"A huge racist": Pantera Phil Anselmo racism controversy explained as Nazi salute video goes viral 

Heavy metal band Pantera has been removed from the upcoming Rock am Ring Ring and Rock im Park German music festivals following its singer’s racism controversy.

Musician Philip Anselmo has consequently been canceled on social media after he was seen shouting “white power” in a resurfaced 2016 video. It was announced that the band would not be performing following “intense conversations” about the matter at hand.

Pantera’s original members Anselmo and Rex Brown, who were supposed to perform alongside guitarist Zakk Wylde and drummer Charlie Benante, were scheduled to appear in Nürburgring and Nürnberg between June 2-4, 2023. However, the event organizers recently released a statement announcing they were removing Pantera from their lineup:

“Pantera will not be performing at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park 2023, as announced. In the last few weeks, we have had many intensive conversations with artists, our partners and you, the festival fans, we have continued to deal with the criticism together and decided to remove the band from the program.”

If the band was performing at the Rock am Ring Festival, it would also be appearing in a city where Hitler reportedly held a series of Nazi party rallies between 1933 and 1938, which only added fuel to the fire.

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What did Pantera’s Philip Anselmo do?

In January 2016, the Cemetery Gates musicians performed at the Dimebash event hosted at the Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood, honoring their late guitarist Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott. At one point in the show, Anselmo ended up raising his hand and doing what seemed to be a Nazi-style salute, screaming “white power” as he made the gesture.

After amassing heaps of criticism online, the musician claimed that he was joking about drinking white wine backstage and was reacting to the audience who were reportedly taunting him. He also issued a formal apology for his actions, stating that those who knew him well know that he does not believe in “any of that.” He also stated:

“I am a thousand percent apologetic to anyone that took offense to what I said because you should have taken offense to what I said. And I am so sorry, and I hope you just… man, give me another change to… just give me another change. I love all of you. And anyone, who’s met me, anyone who knows me knows that I love all of you. Bless you.”

The musician’s actions were condemned by several members of the music industry at the time of the occurrence. Machine Head’s frontman Rob Flynn had called Anselmo a “bully.”

Anthrax’s Scott Ian called Anselmo’s actions “vile,” further encouraging the latter to “show how much he loves everyone” by donating to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization.

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Despite its German festival concerts getting canceled, Pantera will be appearing on numerous other shows in North America, performing alongside Lamb of God and Metallica as well.