Iced Earth founder Jon Schaffer was recently sentenced to three years of probation, 120 hours of community service, and will also have to pay $1,000 in restitution and a $200 financial assessment due to his participation in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Schaffer originally faced a slew of extremely serious charges, but ultimately had it tamped down due to his cooperation with law enforcement.
So you'd think that maybe the guy learned something through all this, right? That maybe the whole insurrection and "trying to overthrow the government" thing was bad? Nope. Schaffer got pardoned by President Donald Trump, became a Christian, and has learned absolutely fucking nothing.
In an interview with the It Is Later Than You Think podcast, Schaffer said that January 6 wasn't about Trump and was instead about people being "sick of the tyranny." Because nothing quite says you're sick of the tyranny than electing an actual tyrant that's trying to install a monoarchy in the United States. Got 'em, Jon! Schaffer also echoes the false narrative that the election was stolen, which it wasn't.
"In the famous interview that I did that they showed everywhere, I said, this isn't about President Trump. I mean, I believe that he's a good man who loves his country. But the American people are worked up because we're sick of the tyranny. And he happens to be the figurehead against that. But for me, I would've been just as pissed off if they stole the election from the Democrats, because that means that's the end of our republic, which actually has been hijacked for a very long time… I'm just anti-tyranny.
"I want people to be free. I want people to be able to be free to speak their minds, to worship, to live, to prosper. That's what we've been told our whole lives that's what our country stands for. We realize how much we've been lied to, but the fact is that's what it was founded upon. And they have demonized everything about our history to the point that if we don't bring common sense back into this discussion, it will be unrecognizable.
"Now I realize my behavior wasn't the greatest behavior and wasn't the smartest thing that I ever did, but it was entrapment — one hundred percent. I mean, there's no doubt. The truth is gonna come out about this. The bad thing is I know better. But I let my emotions get a whole handle on me, and I think there was a force at work there, which I can't really put into words."
Schaffer further repeated false claims about the January 6 insurrection, saying it was a "very family-oriented movement" and that the United States Capitol Police were totally cool with them being there. I'm sure Brian Sicknick's family would be thrilled to hear that and would totally agree, or the four officers that committed suicide in the wake of the insurrection.
"It was sort of like an energy flow going that way, but it was obviously a lot of chaos already going on. From what I heard, people started before Trump was even done speaking, heading over there, stirring up trouble. And so I don't know how many of those people would be agent provocateurs… But I was going in and went up the stairs… I didn't see any entrances being breached. I actually didn't see any of that. So I don't know where that took place. I just saw the same videos that other people have. But I was going up the stairs and I felt what sounded like concussion grenades going off. It was loud. It sounded like it was within the building.
"And then tear gas canisters were blowing up over the top of us and these girls were coming down the stairs. They were probably 50 feet apart, crying. They're destroying stuff up there. That's not what this is about. So I'm, like, getting more charged up, like, 'What's going on?' I didn't know what was going on. I did not expect that patriots were setting off flash bangs or concussion grenades or whatever I was hearing. It doesn't make sense because that's not what the movement's about. It's not a violent movement. You could see that. It's a very family-oriented movement. I would say that most of the people are just freedom loving, probably a lot of Christians and a lot of of good-hearted Americans… And so destroying property, that's not what we do. That's not our thing.
"So it became more and more alarming as I was getting higher up the stairs. And there were people on the scaffolds and a lot of stuff was being said and yelled and people were yelling and I saw guys coming down that had been sprayed, which is kind of a weird thing to see when you see it for the first time, because it takes a second for you realize, and then, of course, I found out. But they can't see. But they look normal when you're looking at 'em. But then you see that they can't see 'cause they've been tear gased or pepper sprayed or whatever, chemical irritant.
"And so I just went up. I don't even know if I had a model of the Capitol, if I could tell you where I was. But there were scaffolds right next to the stairway that was going up and there was a deck up there. But it looks like it would be a place that maybe they do photographs or something. The doorway that I went in, there was no handles on the doorway.
"These were doors that I'm certain are very secure. I saw the police officer — he was masked up, but I still identified him; I recognized him — communicating. I saw him through the glass communicating. He was on the other side of the door. The door was not opened at this point, and he was looking up at the camera communicating, and I'm assuming that he was telling central command there to unlock those doors, because those doors, I can almost guarantee you, are magnetically sealed. I mean, it's the Capitol of the United States. You're not gonna be able to just take a hammer and break a window and reach around and grab… And there was no handles on the exterior anyway… I saw him do it… Or at least maybe they weren't mechanically open, but whatever the mechanism is, the magnetic mechanism.
"And so he opens the door and a few people come out, and just as the door was closing, there was another group of people that yelled, 'Hey, can we go in there?' And he said, 'Yeah, come on in.' They let 'em in. Then the door closed and some period of time later another group came rushing out, and that's when they said, 'The cops are afraid. They're beating an old man in there. Let's go.' And that's what I got caught up in was that last thing. And it wasn't too long after that I got in there that I saw the cop that was communicating to open the door just standing very calmly up in the stairs. 'Cause like you go through the hall and there's a ways down, there's a staircase up here.
"And he's, like, three or four steps up, just with his arms crossed, looking at everything. And then the police officers are backpedaling because we're coming in. And then I caught off to the side — which, hell, at this point could be crisis actors for all I know. I don't know. It was just pandemonium. I start yelling at 'em. The police, when it looked like to me like an old biker vet was getting hit with a baton by the one that was on the far end on the right, and I started yelling at him and yelling about them not keeping their oaths and 'Congress is full of criminals.' 'What are you doing?' Whatever. Not nice things, I'm sure, I was saying. But then I got sprayed."
Schaffer later adds that January 6 wasn't a real insurrection. Because nothing says "we're not trying to overthrow the government" quite like having groups like the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, QAnon believes, and more showing up to totally not try and kill or detain those who would certify the election.
"I mean, you're talking about the most armed citizenry on the face of the planet. Somehow all those insurrectionists forgot their ARs [firearms] at home and their handguns and everything. It's almost like that was never the intention."
Oh, and to top it all off, Schaffer says him being in the Oath Keepers is fake. Other than the fact that he then goes on to say he joined the Oath Keepers for a lifetime membership and is absolutely a part of the Oath Keepers. Other than that, he's not.
"There's the whole fake story of the Oath Keepers thing,. I mean, yes, I signed up to be a supporter of Oath Keepers when it first started, and I don't even remember what year that was. I'd say it was like [200]9, [20]10, [20]11. I don't know when they started, but it was right at the beginning, I saw an interview with [Oath Keepers founder] Stewart [Rhodes] and I was just, like, 'Yeah.' I mean, who wouldn't want elected officials and first responders in military to take their oath seriously?
"Why is that a bad thing? So, yeah, I sent whatever the money was — I don't even remember the cost; it was eight or nine hundred bucks — and you get the ultimate swag and the lifetime membership and whatever. And I guess technically I am [a founding member] because I sent them money and I was probably one of the first, 'cause I was super excited when I heard about it, 'cause I realized even at that time, like, we're in serious trouble. I had been awake for a while. So, anyway, they created the whole narrative. I didn't have any information on Oath Keepers, and I'm not even sure that those guys broke any laws. The only person I identified was the cop that opened the door."
He later added: "The Oath Keepers thing, that was a narrative that they created to try to get others to break, as if I had some kind of information. I mean, dude, I am a touring heavy metal guy. I'm not the founder leader of a militia. And I'm not even sure that they did anything wrong. I don't know. I didn't see any violence. I saw the mainstream media saying, 'They walked up the stairs in a military stack formation.' I'm looking at the footage. It looks kind of like they're making their way up the stairs. But that was the narrative, and I couldn't say anything. I was threatened to make any public statement — threatened. 'It's gonna go very bad for you at sentencing if you say anything.' 'Cause they knew they were creating a false narrative."
Anyway, I'm sure Schaffer will return to music in some capacity, but you're not gonna read about it here. Fuck Jon Schaffer.
