For nearly four decades, Gwar have made a career out of outrageous satire, splattering crowds with fake blood while cartoonishly "sacrificing" effigies of politicians, pop culture figures, and religious leaders. But their recent Riot Fest set in Chicago struck a raw nerve, drawing headlines and outrage far outside the usual metal world.
During their performance, the costumed shock-rockers staged the mock beheadings and disembowelments of both Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald J. Trump — something Gwar has been doing for literally decades. Apparently this wasn't a problem when Gwar was killing Obama, or Joe Biden, or the Clintons, or literally anyone else. For the "fuck your feelings" crowd, y'all are being a bunch of soft bitches.
The controversy came in the wake of the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, which has put heightened scrutiny on any perceived depictions of political violence. Clips of Gwar's stage antics — divorced from their long-running b-movie absurdism — went viral on X, amplified by political influencers and outlets like Breitbart, the New York Post, and Libs Of TikTok, who branded the act as "incitement."
Speaking to Billboard, Gwar frontman Blöthar The Berserker (Michael Bishop) pushed back against the outrage: "The idea that Gwar is normalizing violence is patently absurd. We're not millionaires that are afraid of what people are going to say when they see what we do… there's nothing normal about the violence that goes on at a Gwar show. It's a cartoon, it's Looney Tunes."
He clarified that the band's stage gore is satire, not advocacy: "It's a parody of violence. It's trying to make violence into a spectacle and show humanity's absolute absurdity. That's what Gwar is, it's absurdism. To say it's normalizing violence is really reaching."
Blöthar also addressed the social media uproar directly, mocking the cycle of "rage-bait" engagement farming: "Like I know this is a rage bait engagement farming twitter account, but 'Gwar crossed a major line' is one of the funniest fucking things I've ever heard. The dumbest people on the internet are still mad today. Got to love it. As long as they keep posting that awesome video and mentioning our name for the free publicity it's a win for me."
For longtime fans, the set was business as usual: Gwar have always skewered both sides of the political aisle (and nearly every cultural figure imaginable), their shows equal parts satirical horror theater and grotesque comedy. Yet in today's polarized environment, even their brand of over-the-top absurdism finds itself swept into culture war battles.
