Pop Star Wears Dress With Burzum Art, Unaware of Varg's Racism

Swedish pop star Zara Larsson has come under fire for wearing a custom shirt-dress that contains artwork by one-man black metal band Burzum, led by convicted murderer and arsonist and outspoken white supremacist/anti-Semite Varg Vikernes. She alleges she was completely unaware of her perceived wrongdoing.

While non-rock and metal fans should not be discouraged for wearing shirts representing bands they perhaps have never heard of or don't listen to, this incident also serves as a bit of a cautionary warning that a lack of awareness has real potential to lead to trouble, as evidenced by some of the reactions the outfit garnered online.

Larsson donned the dress, which also features portions of Cannibal Corpse and Behemoth artwork, prior to her live performance at the P3 Guld, Swedish radio's annual music awards ceremony.

She even posted a TikTok video showing off the outfit, where part of the artwork for Burzum's 1996 album Filosofem is visible.

Some commenters quickly identified the Burzum aspect of the outfit to be problematic, calling out Vikernes' criminal extremism and personal views. In 2014, he was found guilty of inciting racial hatred and exalting war crimes in France.

The sentencing came one year after Vikernes and his wife were arrested on suspicion of planning a massacre, but were released after two days due to lack of evidence.

Also, in 1993, as a member of Norwegian black metal band Mayhem, Vikernes (then known as Count Grishnackh) murdered bandmate Øystein  Aarseth (known as Euronymous) by stabbing him 23 times. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1994 for the murder as well as church arson and possession of explosives.

View a sample of comments that bring Vikernes' crimes to attention below.

In response to criticism, the 25-year-old Larsson told Aftonbladet, "Oopsie, had no idea. I just thought my clothes looked cool. It was unfortunate." She added, "To clarify, I wasn't wearing their merch, I was wearing [clothing made by Belgian fashion designer] Raf Simons (with a print of them then, I guess."