Slayer’s Kerry King Talks Election’s Only ‘Safe, Correct Choice’
Aside from writing songs about war and historical atrocities, Slayer have hardly been the sort of band to dabble in politics. And while guitarist and chief songwriter Kerry King expects his fans to come to their own conclusion in November, he has made up his mind. “I’m certainly not a political analyst, but I think that Hillary Clinton is the safe, correct choice,” he tells Rolling Stone.
“Trump is just a sideshow,” he continues. “I’m not even going to apologize to all the Trump followers.” King laughs. “I think the reason he’s so popular is because he’s like the politics version of WWE. He’s sensational like wrestling and that’s why middle America loves him.”
King thinks that part of Trump’s wrestling-like appeal is his ability to talk smack. “He’s the biggest liar I’ve ever seen in politics,” he says with a laugh. “I mean, most of them are liars, but he just outright in-your-face lies.”
When Rolling Stone mentions that King might offend some of his more conservative fans, he says his opinion shouldn’t make any difference to them. “People just have to make up their minds and not be into things because their friends are into it or because their girlfriend or their spouse or whoever is into it,” he says. “People have to be individuals. … Sounds like I’m talking about religion, doesn’t it?” He laughs.
Slayer are currently touring in support of their most recent album, last year’s Repentless. After a handful of dates in Europe next month, they’ll return to North America in September with Anthrax and Death Angel.
They also recently announced that they had collaborated with Dark Horse comics on a new three-part comic-book, Slayer: Repentless. They revealed the covers, which they signed posters of at Comic-Con last week, via Rolling Stone.