Serj Tankian Rips System of a Down Fans Who Love Trump: ‘You’re a Hypocrite’

Daniel Kohn
·3 min read

It’s been an interesting few weeks for System of a Down fans. Drummer John Dolmayan and singer Serj Tankian have taken complete opposite stances on President Trump and protests overall in recent weeks, with the former praising the president and the latter, not so much.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Tankian made it even more clear where he stands (not that it even needed any clarification).

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Ahead of posting lyrics to the band’s unreleased “Temper,” Tankian wrote the following:

A very early @systemofadown song that was on one of our demos-lyrics below: if you love this song or play along to it and love Trump, you’re a hypocrite-just a simple fact

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“Temper”

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A very early @systemofadown song that was on one of our demos-lyrics below: if you love this song or play along to it and love Trump, you’re a hypocrite-just a simple fact "Temper" We want peace with Patriot missiles, Blown to bits are civilian targets, Parade! Laugh! Rejoice! Sing! We’re the victors of…nothing, Spend more money on a war, Your people starving, turned to whores, Slaves of the chosen one paying millions for each bomb, Country without a race , Formed from people you disgrace , White right conservative might , Killers of Kennedy's with no fright , The American way! Freedom cried the marching man, Flags ripped out of their black hands , Beaten! Slain! Tortured! Killed! Their only mistake was being born here , Invade countries just for oil , Send your troops all down to boil , Iraq! Grenada! Nam and Chile! Truman doctrine our own way , Country without a race , Formed from people you disgrace , White right conservative might , Killers of Kennedy's with no fright , The American way! The Government (FBI-CIA) here can suck my balls , Policing the world in overalls , Armed rebellion minority , Disrespected race, color, mind , Crazed loonies all walk the streets , Missing children on milk cartons , Mother selling child for crack , Mr. President check your back , Country without a race , Formed from people you disgrace, White right conservative might , Killers of Kennedy's with no fright , The American way! The American way! The American way!

A post shared by Serj Tankian (@serjtankian) on Jun 16, 2020 at 12:57am PDT

Tankian’s post comes days after Dolmayan wished Trump a “happy birthday” and called Democrats “the true bigots hidden in plain sight from the same party who fought to maintain slavery.”

“The reason I post my opinions on this forum and open myself up to attack and ridicule is for you, the silent ones who think they are alone in a world where their thoughts are alien or wrong,” Dolmayan wrote.

A few weeks ago on the Side Jams With Bryan Reesman podcast, Tankian wondered how System of a Down’s fans could not understand the message of the band’s lyrics after hearing it for 20 years. He said that while he understood how fans could like the tunes if they like heavy music, the message in the words is laid out clearly for them.

“So when I get people on my socials that are, ‘I love your music, but I don’t wanna hear your political ideas,’ that’s fair enough — if they’re nice enough, it’s fair enough, but sometimes they’re really mean,” Tankian said.

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