Months after his feud with Corey Taylor , rapper and singer Machine Gun Kelly says he should have handled the situation differently.
According to a transcript from The Pit , the musician and actor spoke about the incident in his documentary Life in Pink , available on the Hulu . “I should have called him and asked, ‘Hey, man. Why did you say that?’ But instead, we both acted ridiculously,” comments Gun Kelly.
In the documentary, he also comments on the failed collaboration between the two artists, which was supposedly the beginning of their disagreements. “I was a Slipknot . I was a Corey fan,” he admits. “That’s why I asked him to participate in Tickets To My Downfall . He obviously respected me too because he even did a verse.”
“I tried to make some suggestions like, ‘Oh, this isn’t quite what we were expecting. Can we try it this way?’ and he respectfully replied no, so we didn’t use the verse. And after that, I heard him on a podcast.”
Remembering the fight
Publicly, it all started at Riot Fest , where the singer and Slipknot were performing on the same day. Machine Gun Kelly commented that he was "happy" not to be wearing weird masks on stage at 50 years old, which was understood as a dig at the band known for wearing masks on stage.
This caused further hostility between rock fans and the former rapper, and since then he and Corey Taylor have been exchanging barbs through separate interviews and social media posts. A few days later, Gun Kelly revealed that Taylor had been invited to participate in the album Tickets To My Downfall (2021) , but that he had delivered “a terrible verse” that was not used.
Corey Taylor refuted the rapper's version of events by releasing screenshots of emails and messages between him and Travis Barker , where the drummer forwarded messages written by Machine Gun Kelly himself, who said he was "honored" by the collaboration and had some suggestions for the verse he received from Taylor. The Slipknot vocalist didn't like the request for changes and politely declined the collaboration.
Later, Machine Gun Kelly revealed that what motivated his sarcastic jab on stage at Riot Fest was an interview given by Corey Taylor where the vocalist said he hated "all the artists who failed in one genre and decided to go into rock," adding, "He knows who he is." The rapper reportedly felt bothered hearing the singer say this after being invited to be on the album and accepting the offer.
After the release of Mainstream Sellout (2022), his second album with rock influences, Gun Kelly said he will return to rap in his next project and assured that he is doing it "for himself".
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