The controversial statement generated replies and counter-replies in the post's comments.
Charles Manson, the cult leader who murdered nine people, including actress Sharon Tate who was eight months pregnant, died today while serving a life sentence , and System of a Down guitarist Daron Malakian posted a rather controversial statement about Manson's death:
“I’m very sad to hear that Charles Manson has died. At the time I was writing the album Toxicity, Manson’s interviews and his music were a great inspiration to me as an artist. I named the song '#ATWA' in honor of Charles Manson’s environmental organization. My interest was in how he articulated his thoughts and his views of society, not in murder. The painting in this photo is one I asked my father to paint with the Charles Manson theme, which was later used as the artwork for the song 'Fucking' from #ScarsOnBroadway, which was only released in a limited edition vinyl edition. #charlesmanson #mansonfamily”
The statement upset Daron's fans, who expressed their opinions in the comments section of the post, prompting the guitarist to attempt a defense with the following comment:
“If all you know about Manson is what the media has sold you… I don’t blame you for the negative comments. But the other side of Manson is that he was a songwriter whose song ‘Look At Your Game’ was covered by Guns N’ Roses. Manson also had several valid points of view regarding society and the environment that some of you who are calling me ‘disgusting’ couldn’t argue if you bothered to read his interviews. I would say that the ‘disgusting’ ones are you if you disagree with his opinions on some of these topics.”
If Manson was just an idiot who killed people, he wouldn't inspire me in any way. I don't support murder or murderers of any kind or form!
Manson was a genius who could articulate his thoughts in very intelligent ways. That was the Manson who influenced me as an artist. To all of you who say you're glad he's dead and that he should burn in your imaginary Hell, you're the ones who should be ashamed of yourselves. You and your thoughts seem to be just as bad as the murderers you claim to hate so much!!!!”
Since Malakian's comment is even more controversial, and in that sense worse than the original post, expressions of disagreement continued in the comments, leading the guitarist to defend himself with further interventions, citing OJ Simpson as an example, among other things, in his argument.
See Malakian's post including the comments and the photo with the aforementioned painting with a "Charles Manson theme":
