Pantera had their participation canceled at two German festivals due to a Nazi salute performed by Phil Anselmo in the past.
The band, currently on a reunion tribute tour, had confirmed appearances at the simultaneous Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park , taking place from June 2nd to 4th in the cities of Nürburgring and Nuremberg. On Monday morning, May 23rd, both events used their social media accounts to publish identical statements saying that Pantera would no longer be performing at either festival.
According to Blabbermouth , most of the criticism regarding Pantera's participation stems from an event in 2016, when vocalist Phil Anselmo made a Nazi salute at the Dimebash , organized in memory of the late guitarist Dimebag Darrell , in Hollywood. On that occasion, he also appeared to have said the words " white power ," but later said he was joking about drinking white wine backstage.
According to the website, the strongest pressure to cancel Pantera's performance came from the German party known as The Greens. The party went to the Nuremberg City Council to argue that Phil Anselmo had "repeatedly and deliberately made Nazi salutes and shouted racist slogans." The Greens formally asked the festival organizers, Argo Konzerte GmbH, to reconsider their decision to invite Pantera to Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park .