In a recent chat with Glassman of the 93.5 The Beach radio station, Sevendust’s lead singer Lajon Witherspoon said he only faced racism during the Slipknot tour.
“Not a lot, but yeah, on the Slipknot tour, one time we were somewhere, there were some racist kids out there and they were throwing up ‘Heil Hitler’ signs,” the frontman, who is African American, replied when asked about the racism he and his band have faced over their 30 years in music. “And I laughed at ’em and I said, ‘You kids don’t even know what that means,’ that they were doing it.”
He continued, “But luckily, we got through that. And I think we made a point to let everyone know that we weren’t about the racism and the negativity, even still to this day. We don’t wanna be divided then and we still don’t wanna be divided now.”
“But I feel like our community and the music industry that we’re in and it’s metal community and rock that we all come together,” Witherspoon added. “There was no room for ignorance then and there’s no room for ignorance now. So we’ll just keep that going.”
In September 2020, Witherspoon was asked on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show how being a metal singer can help make a positive change in America. He answered, “I think today we definitely can see that there’s been a lack of equality in this world that’s being put in the forefront. Luckily, in the industry that I’m in, in the metal community, I feel like that’s definitely something that’s not tolerated, I would like to say, as far as I’ve seen.”
The rocker then noted, “I feel like this community is incredibly welcoming, and I’ve been very blessed to be in it. I also feel like there’s definitely a lot of people that are hiding behind masks that are racist out there. But if there’s anything that I can do, I will never not be a leader of bringing peace, love and equality to this industry and to what I do.”
“I can say love sees no color, but I do — I believe that people do see color, obviously,” Lajon shared. “But I still want to bring everyone together and [have] it not be a problem. I feel like in our community, there’s not only black — there’s white, there’s Asian, there’s everybody — and that’s what this world should [be like]. We should definitely get to that page and to the point, again, to where we don’t have that problem. I pray that we get there.”
Sevendust is currently on tour in the United States. They will perform in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on September 20. The band has shows until mid-October.