SOAD: Serj Tankian defends John Dolmayan's pro-Trump stance, fans say band's music 'no longer feels authentic'
The lead singer of System of a Down, Serj Tankian, recently took to social media to address the fact that despite being part of the same band, he and drummer John Dolmayan hold radically opposing views when it came to the current Trump regime. The revelation that Tankian was vehemently opposed to Trump's antics should come as no surprise given that a lot of System of a Down's songs are politically charged.
However, most fans were shocked to learn that Dolmayan was actually a Trump sympathizer after he declared that the US president was the "greatest friend to minorities." Naturally, most fans aimed their scorn directly at the band after hearing that, saying "You can keep your new album. We don't want it" among other heated remarks.
Tankian has since come out in support of his bandmate and brother-in-law (their wives are sisters) in a heartfelt social media post. On the singer's Instagram, Tankian stated, "My drummer and brother-in-law John Dolmayan, whom I love and respect irrespective of our extremely polarized political commentary and differences, has always been my stalwart ally in efforts for recognition of the Armenian genocide within SOAD."
He then continued to defend his musical brother, saying "The amount of online hate and stupidity against him and I are unjustifiable: social media has created an erroneous digital society that partially thrives on this reality. Remember, irrespective of the stance, only artistes that truly care and are impassioned will risk alienating their base for what they consider the truth."
The singer further justified their opposing views by saying, "Our dilemma and possible fallacy is that we have two in one band. Some may consider that a weakness but the artistic, political and social dichotomy, if not quadrichotomy (not a word) has made @systemofadown what it is today. Thank you all for reading. We should all do more non-online reading."
In response, most fans seemed to understand where Tankian was coming from. One follower said, "Thank you for not allowing quantum division to engulf your friendship and band. We are all better than this!" Another stated, "This is exactly what it is about. Friendship beyond political opinions. Thank you SOAD."
However, plenty of SOAD fans were miffed by the singer's stance. One fan said, "This is f***ed. Your music is completely contradictory to Trump's views and racism. It's unconscionable to revere him in any positive light regarding race. Talk about empty messaging. I'm disappointed. Stay broken up for all I care, I'm not here to support this."
Another peeved follower said, "Yes there's nothing wrong with you having differing opinions, but John's are everything SOAD stands AGAINST. As a fan, it just no longer feels authentic knowing that John will be on stage performing songs about anti-government corruption when he's supporting one..."
However, other fans chimed in with messages of support. One fan said, "Love you both! Balance in everything, your post embodies this. Political divisions are for the mindless masses. Thank you both for making my musical growth and life much much more interesting." Another said, "Unfortunately people treat politics and ideologies as sports: pick the wrong side and you'll get attacked and hated for not going on their side. Nobody can agree to disagree anymore. At least there are still artistes like you guys that can respect other people's views which should be common sense by now."
As another fan concluded, "I have to respect that, politics isn't the be all end all we should be able to love each other as equals regardless of our political differences."