Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider isn’t gonna take it if you’re an anti-masker using his song to rebel against wearing a mask. Upon seeing a video of a group of anti-maskers in a Florida Target, Snider called them out for playing his band’s 1984 hit.
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The video Snider shared features a group of anti-maskers marching through the aisles of a Florida Target, calling on people to remove their masks like they’re Oprah giving out cars to her studio audience. “Take your mask off! We’re not doing it. Take off your mask! We’re not doing it,” one person in the video yells while pointing down aisles and cheering. Another woman screams, “We’re not gonna take it anymore.” She then proceeds to sing the melody to Twister Sister’s signature song, as it plays from a speaker.
At one point someone, presumably the person filming, calls them “F**king idiots.”
Snider absolutely agrees with the person filming the video. In his tweet, he said that even though “We’re Not Gonna Take It” is a song about rebellion, troubling anti-mask protests aren’t what he had in mind. “These selfish a******s do not have my permission or blessing to use my song for their moronic cause,” he wrote, including the hashtag “#cutthes**t.”
Snider also quote-tweeted someone who explained why they wear a mask, which simply boils down to: if there’s a chance you could spread the progress, why risk it? Snider shared the tweet to say that he agreed.
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In a 2015 interview with TMZ, he pivoted a conversation about the then-upcoming 2016 election and said why he was okay with President Donald Trump using the song in his election campaign. “Donald Trump is a good friend and a great guy, and I support him turning the political system on its head. The song ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ is a song about rebellion, and there’s nothing more rebellious than what Donald Trump is doing right now. Although, Bernie Sanders could use it as well. He’s turning things upside down as well,” he said.
At the time, he also explained that he may have disagreed with Trump, but still felt it was a suitable song for his campaign, even if he wasn’t necessarily supporting the campaign.. “I don’t necessarily agree with every single thing Donald Trump says, but I do support his spirit, his attitude. People are just-they’ve had all they can stand, and they’re not gonna take it anymore. So ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ is the perfect song,” he said.
Despite initially offering his blessing, Snider said in a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame interview that after a few months he called Trump and asked him to stop, and he did.
It also appears that Snider’s friendship with Trump may have soured. In a July Twitter rant, he called him a “commie loving traitor” and criticized his supporters.
And he’s a commie loving traitor! My dad didn’t fight in Korean War & 178,000 soldier didn’t die so some a-hole could suck up to Kim Jong-un, Putin & Xi Jinping! EFF THAT!! TWISTED SISTER’s JAY JAY FRENCH: ‘DONALD TRUMP Is A Functionally Illiterate Racist’ https://t.co/xnCQT5gYY2
— Dee Snider🇺🇸 (@deesnider) July 2, 2020
The prostitution of our democracy by this president is staggering! How any of those “hat wearers” can call themselves patriots is mind numbing! How would they like it if someone put a bounty on them?! (Not suggesting just cross referencing) #BETTERDEADTHANRED https://t.co/K83iCIpKbx
— Dee Snider🇺🇸 (@deesnider) July 2, 2020
In an interview with Loudwire in August, he called for people to vote Trump out of office. “If it can fog a mirror, vote for it,” he said. “This guy is not a patriot. He’s a commie-sympathizer. He’s anti-American.”
Contacts for Snider and Twisted Sister did not respond to Newsweek’s emailed request for comment.
