In a new interview with the IMPACT Metal Channel, vocalist Zak Tell of the long-running Swedish rap/metal combo CLAWFINGER was asked for his opinion of the current political situation in his home country. Zak responded: “It’s a mess, like it is in a lot of places. A lot of right-wing forces with Nazi roots and fascist ideas. Oh, it’s pretty shit at the moment. But having said that, politicians are always pretty shit anyway, regardless. I mean, as much as we wrote a song about (U.S. president Donald) Trump, and what a scumbag he is, he is not the only one. There are plenty of assholes just like him all over the world. He just happened to be the person we used because it paints a very clear picture, and he is so obviously a complete fucking moron. But there are loads of morons out there. And there are loads of good people out there as well. Unfortunately, a lot of morons seem to become politicians.”

Zak also spoke about why he and his CLAWFINGER bandmates no longer perform their controversial single “N****r”, an anti-racism statement that caused quite a stir and was a massive success. The track was included on CLAWFINGER‘s debut album, 1993’s “Deaf Dumb Blind”, which sold over 600,000 copies worldwide and was critically acclaimed in Swedish press. Asked if he thinks the song will ever make its way back into the CLAWFINGER setlist, Tell said: “I do not know. Times have changed since we released that song. There’s a whole new wokeness, and people are a lot more aware. There’s Black Lives Matter… I think one of the problems today is that things get taken out of context, and nobody cares about the big picture, nobody cares about background. People get stuck up on words and small things instead of seeing the big picture. I mean, we’re totally fine with the song. We know what we stand for. We know we’re not a bunch of racist idiots. The problem is everyone else out there who doesn’t know, and all of a sudden sees a 10-second TikTok clip or a… And all you get then is the chorus. And it gets taken totally out of context. And it just creates… I think it creates more problems than it creates solutions. And also it’s about being respectful to the fact that the times have changed, and people do see things differently. And maybe it’s a topic that’s more important than a three-and-a-half minute song. It deserves to be addressed properly. And maybe we shouldn’t be the people addressing it anymore, if we ever should have been. But maybe now and here is not our time and place to be the agitators… It’s not really our job to educate people about it, I feel. So it’s mostly just out of being respectful that we chose not to play it anymore. Not because we don’t believe it’s a good song, ’cause we do. But it’s not our time and place anymore, the way the world is now. Maybe in the future that’ll change and people will understand the bigger picture more, and realize that it’s okay to say basically anything, as long as your intentions are good. But I don’t see the world working that way right now. Unfortunately.”

Asked what the reactions were like from the black community when CLAWFINGER first released that single, Zak said: “You mean back in ’93? I don’t really remember much of a particular reaction at all. It was a very different time. We’re a Scandinavian, European band. If it had been in the States, I think already then it would’ve been very difficult because we’re all pink and not brown. But in Europe, it worked so differently, and the word isn’t loaded in the same way. Also we came at a time when there were a lot of bands branching out into different styles, and that music world was very open. And there was a big alternative scene. And for anyone with half a brain, it was pretty obvious that we weren’t a racist band. ‘Cause if you listen to more than the chorus, if you read the lyrics, if you read up on us, then it’s obvious. So it wasn’t really a problem. It led to discussions quite often, and it made people open their eyes, like, ‘Whoa, what’s this?'”

Zak continued: “In that case, we had bigger problems. I remember one gig we did in Stockholm back in, like, ’95, and there were a bunch of skinheads who came to the gig because they had misunderstood the song and thought it was an anthem for them. And then when they realized it was an anti-racist song, they started throwing bottles at us on stage. So it has caused problems, but not the kind of problems you would think. On the other hand, when one of our record company representatives went over to the States back in, like, ’93, ’94, and played it to the record companies, they did not like it, which tells you quite a lot about how much more loaded it is in the States. I remember we got a fax from a record company, and all it said was, ‘White guys who try to tell black people how to live their lives ought to have their balls cut off.’ So it was never released in the States.”