The Illegals drummer Jose Manuel Gonzalez defended Phil Anselmo from racism accusations that came in following the singer’s “white power” salute at the Dimebash event in LA in January 2016.
[metalwani_content_ad]
As widely reported, Phil gave the crowd at the show a Nazi salute and yelled “White power” as he was leaving the stage after performing “Walk.” The singer later said he was joking about drinking white wine backstage and reacting to the audience members in the front who he says were taunting him.
Jose now said on Jon’s Untitled Podcast :
“Not a lot of people know this, but I was there that night. Me and Steven [Taylor, guitar] actually went up there as guests for NAMM.
“For me, man, what made me the maddest out of that whole situation was that everybody that wanted to throw around this nasty word [‘racist’] about one of my best friends, not one media outlet decided to look at pictures of him jamming with Superjoint Ritual.
“Kevin Bond [guitar] is half black and Jimmy Bower [guitar], he’s American but he’s pretty coonass, so – he’s pretty much there. And as for me, I’m full-blooded Mexican, dude. And Marzi [Montazeri] at the time, when he was in the band, Marzi is Persian, or whatever he likes to call himself.
“So we have different backgrounds, and what made me the maddest out of the entire ordeal is not one media outlet or publication decided to call me, decided to call Kevin, decided to call anybody that actually worked with Philip.
“They fucking all got quotes from all these uppity fucking dickheads that call Philip a friend and they just wanted to fucking make it seem like Philip owed something to the rest of the fucking world. I mean, it was just ridiculous.
[metalwani_content_ad]
“I was behind him since day one. When I saw it happen, I was like, ‘Oh, man, that was weird. That might bite us in the ass.’ But he’s one of my best friends, dude. I’ll go to bat for that motherfucker for anything, dude.
“And again, not one person, not one media outlet decided to call us, call his bandmates, and be like, ‘How is he, really? How does Philip really treat you guys?’ And it’s like, ‘Well, I had a baby. He’s helped me… He’s put me on the road. He’s given me a job. He’s given me a life, a career. He’s helped me grow.’
“And if you’re saying that he is what he is, there is no way a person that is that evil and thinks like that would ever help somebody from another ethnicity feed their children, grow, build a family, have a home – all these amazing things.
“I became a young man with Philip’s guidance. I’ve traveled the world with him. And you’re gonna just base your idea and negate everything this man has done over one stupid incident that happened way too far in the night when people that are professionals absolutely know that no rock star needs a microphone in his hand at 2:30 in the morning at a party.
“I mean, it’s just common sense. Everybody was excited for him to be there. And another thing is – the video that was posted that went viral, that’s why videos go viral – because they are snippets of the best piece of whatever tragic, traumatic, hilarious event that happened.
“There was a dude that was on his balls, goading him for a good 15, 20 minutes, because, like I said, it was the end of the night and he was drunk and he was rambling anyways, so there was a dude talking shit all the way up until that.
“But no one sees that; no one brings that up. That was aimed at nobody but one particular dickhead that was being a dickhead. But nobody cares – nobody cares because he’s fucking famous.”
