Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes has launched into an Instagram tirade attacking the March for Our Lives protest against gun violence and the survivors of the Parkland school shooting, calling them “pathetic” and accusing them of treason.
Hughes, who was a survivor of the Bataclan shooting in paris which left 89 people dead, is a sporadically outspoken conservative who despite his own experience with gun violence does not accept the prevailing American liberal orthodoxy on gun control. In a series of now-deleted posts on Instagram, the frontman shared rightwing memes and accused the Parkland survivors of “exploiting the death of 16 of our fellow students for a few Facebook likes and some media attention.”
His posts included a doctored photo of March for Our Lives spokesperson and Parkland survivor Emma Gonzalez tearing up the United States Constitution.
Hey, @jesseEODM I think going out of your way to attack a fellow victim of gun violence, let alone a child, is a pretty pussy ass move. Might wanna check yourself cause your ignorance is showing.
Amendments are meant to be amended. pic.twitter.com/qjlOrM4mnD— Ethan Embry (@EmbryEthan) March 26, 2018
In one of the posts, he described feeling “terrified” of where gun control activism by young people was leading:
I can tell you right now that the actions of these misguided youth and evil communists is making me feel terrified… with every broadcast of a willing and complicit press I feel the wall of security that the Constitution provides being taken down bit by bit…..
He continued in another – also deleted – post:
The Whitney Houston song about letting the children lead the way wasn’t actually had [sic] operating paradigm for life…..And when the truth don’t line up with your bullshit narrative just hold your breath and stamp your feet and refused [sic] to except [sic] it…. then take multiple days off of school playing hooky at the expense of 16 [sic] of your classmates blood….!…. it might be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic and disgusting……
In one of the posts which is still up, Hughes shared an illustration of a woman telling a man, “I turned in my gun to do my part in ending violence,” under which he comments, “I chopped off my own dick to stop rape.”
After the Bataclan attack in November of 2015, Hughes suggested that France‘s strong gun control laws did nothing to prevent the attack. “Did your French gun control stop a single person from dying at the Bataclan? If anyone can answer yes, I’d like to hear it, because I don’t think so,” he said.
In 2016, he implied that the attack was an inside job, which he later apologised for.
Neither Hughes nor his management have commented on his posts, though he suggested after deleting them that he might create a separate account for his political beliefs.
