During Chicago’s Riot Fest, on Sunday, rapper-turned-punk rocker Machine Gun Kelly talked trash about heavy metal band Slipknot on stage. This comes after both were scheduled to close out the festival from different stages at the same time.
MGK said to his fans, “Turn the lights up. Let me see who chose to be here instead of with all the old, weird dudes with masks,” according to the Chicago Sun Times.
He went on to age-shame the band that has been around since 1992 and said, “Hey, you all know what I’m really happy that I’m not doing? Being 50 years old, wearing a f–kin’ weird mask on a f–kin’ stage.”
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On the other hand, Slipknot went on the stage to pay tribute to their late founding drummer, Joey Jordison, who passed away in July at the age of 46.
Frontman Corey Taylor recalled signing their first record deal with Roadrunner Records in Chicago in 1998.
“You’ve made us feel like family,” he said to the audience as they dedicated the track “Wait and Bleed” to Slipknot family “past, present and future,” the Sun Times reported.
While Kelly has not opened up about the reason why he trash-talked Slipknot, it is being speculated that this was in reaction to the comments made by Corey Taylor on the “Cutter’s Rockcast” podcast earlier this year.
Slipknot’s lead vocalist said in February, “I [hate] the artists who failed in one genre and decided to go rock – and I think he knows who he is. But that’s another story.” Although he never mentioned Kelly by his name, it was rumoured that he was talking about Machine Gun Kelly. This came after Kelly released his fifth studio album “Tickets to My Downfall” in September 2020, which served as his departure his established rap sound.