Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine went on an anti-mask rant at a concert (September 15th) in Camden, New Jersey on Wednesday, calling mandates “medical tyranny.”
Performing in a state where over 27,000 people have died from COVID-19, Mustaine addressed the crowd before the final song of the set, decrying the enforcement of masks that have proven effective in slowing the spread of the virus.
“I just wanna tell you how great it is,” Mustaine said before the last song of the night. “Look around you, guys. Look to your right, look to your left, and look how wonderful this is. We’re all here together. We’re not freaking out, and we’re not yelling at people, ‘Wear your f–king mask.’ Listen, it starts with this kind of a sensation that we build right now. We feel together, we feel like [there’s] strength in numbers. We feel like we are invincible. People will not be able to stop us.”
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Beyond being completely off-base scientifically speaking — if not for vaccines or masks, a Megadeth show in New Jersey sounds like a Sturgis-style super spreader — Mustaine then injected some brash political sentiments.
“Right now, what’s going on is tyranny,” he said. “This is called tyranny. Look it up when you get home. And tyranny isn’t only in government. Tyranny right now is in the schools and tyranny is in the medical business. We have the power, especially us… heavy metal fans, we have the power to change things.”
Thankfully, Mustaine does not speak for all heavy metal fans. His statement is especially bizarre given that he recently recovered from throat cancer and studies have shown that cancer survivors, as well as patients, are “at risk” for complications due to COVID. It’s also a bit hypocritical, since Megadeth offered Vic Rattlehead facemasks as merch during the pandemic.
Mustaine considers himself “along the lines of a what a Libertarian is,” per a 2016 interview, and has expressed controversial political opinions in the past. He famously denied that former President Barrack Obama was born in the US after endorsing Republican candidate Rick Santorum in the 2012 election.
It had been a while since Mustaine had subjected us to his dubious political hot takes, but here we are. Watch a clip of the rant below.
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