PANTERA frontman Philip Anselmo has publicly “disavowed” the Confederate flag.

The 54-year-old singer made the comment during the band’s concert last weekend (Friday, May 26) in Bulgaria. He was addressing a fan in the audience who was displaying a sign that included Confederate flag imagery, something PANTERA had used as part of the band’s stage production and in merchandise designs, including on the “Hesher Dream” shirt, which had been sold via the official PANTERA webstore in 2015.

Before launching into the closing song of PANTERA‘s set, “Cowboys From Hell”, at Arena Sofia in Sofia, Philip told the crowd: “Sofia, I gotta say this: incredible audience. One more thing: there’s a person over here holding up this sign trying to ruin the fuckin’ show. I disavow, I disavow the fuckin’ flag. I’m sorry. It’s ridiculous, man. Keep politics out of shit. It’s boring.”

Back in September 2016, during an interview with Rolling Stone about the “A Vulgar Display Of Pantera” photo book, Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown were asked to comment on a photo of the band’s stage display from the 2001 “Reinventing The Steel” tour that relied heavily on Confederate flag imagery.

Said Anselmo: “If we’re really going to get into commentary here, yes, I see the projected Confederate flags. Well, for one, I’ve always said, ‘Flags don’t mean a damn thing to me.’ Two, by using the Confederate flag, despite what anyone says — and I don’t give a shit, because no matter what I say, I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t — but the truth of it all is, it was about as innocent as innocent could be. We weren’t confessing to any clandestine power of structure or however you assholes wanna put it these days. I think we used the Confederate flag merely because of LYNYRD SKYNYRD. We had learned from people before us. And it was never about anything other than that.”

Added Brown: “The Confederate flag is on the back cover of 1996’s ‘The Great Southern Trendkill’. That was the ‘Southern’ part of it. There were still states that had that on their state flags. Nowadays it’s forbidden to use it. It’s not so politically correct. But it had nothing to do with racism. None of us were like that. It was just a tie-in to the artwork on the back cover. Even back then, I said, ‘This is not the way to go.’ LYNYRD SKYNYRD used one for years and still do. Now people confuse it with racism and hatred. That’s not what this band is about at all; quite the opposite. But it’s the only thing I would say in the P.C. days that I have any regrets about.”

The Confederate flag’s symbolism was the subject of an emotional debate in the South in the aftermath of the 2015 massacre of nine blacks by a white gunman in a Charleston, South Carolina.

White supremacist and suspected killer Dylann Roof had been pictured holding the Confederate flag before he allegedly carried out the murders.

While some people saw the flag as a divisive symbol of the South’s proslavery legacy, supporters insisted the flag was an honorable symbol of regional pride, a mark of respect for Southern soldiers who died in the American Civil War.

In a 2015 interview with Sticks For Stones, PANTERA and HELLYEAH drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott weighed in on the Confederate flag issue. He said: “All I’m going to say is it’s a big knee-jerk reaction to something that happened. It’s unfortunate that people are like that — they want to point a finger at something, you know.”

He continued: “Honestly, this country was built on freedom of speech and freedom of expression, and when you can no longer do that, then it is no longer based on that, you know. It’s a touchy thing, you know, and that’s really all I’m going to say about it. I just think that it doesn’t follow what the country was built on [and] what it was based on. To me, that blows, but that’s how it, is man.”

Also in 2015, Anselmo said that he was thinking twice about his past associations with the rebel flag.

“It’d be, like, would we be flying the Nazi flag?” he asked a Hard Rock Haven interviewer. “I don’t think so, because flags are looked at whether it be nationalism or symbols of something. Truthfully, it’s like…I wish fucking everyone would get along.”

The singer went on to explain that the reason he and his former bandmates might have used the Confederate flag in the first place was “our love of bands like LYNYRD SKYNYRD.” But he also acknowledged that “there was never a time when it was okay to promote hate.” He also offered another possible explanation, saying, “It was never this blatant thing unless I was completely out of my mind, which I was at points in time. But that was a long-ass time ago.”

Anselmo went on to explain his evolving sentiment about the flag. “These days, I wouldn’t want anything to fucking do with it because truthfully…I wouldn’t,” he said. “The way I feel and the group of people I’ve had to work with my whole life, you see a Confederate flag out there that says ‘Heritage, not hate.’ I’m not so sure I’m buying in to that.”

Anselmo went on to say: “People can point out flaws in any social group, any ethnic group, any ideology.”

After the interviewer pointed out that Anselmo‘s SUPERJOINT project had incorporated the flag into the artwork for the band’s 2002 debut, “Use Once And Destroy”, Philip said: “In hindsight, you know what? I would have not used it.” He also said that the title of the group’s follow-up LP, “A Lethal Dose Of American Hatred”, was “fucking regrettable.” He added: “It’s probably my least favorite of any album I’ve ever done as far as lyrical content, just the idea behind the whole thing because I’ve got a crazy sense of humor and I do do a lot of tongue-in-cheek shit, man, but when something reads in black and white, people most of the time are going to read it in black and white. They’re going to take it at face value.”

More than seven years ago, Anselmo was at the center of controversy after he made a Nazi-style salute when he performed at the January 2016 “Dimebash” event at the Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood in honor of late PANTERA guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. He also appeared to say “white power” as he made the gesture, but later claimed he was joking about drinking white wine backstage and was reacting to the audience members up front who he says were taunting him.

Back in May 2019, Anselmo was asked by U.K.’s Kerrang! magazine if he feels the “Dimebash” debate is something he has moved past. He responded: “I feel like it’s ridiculous. I made an off-color joke and ‘Boom!’ — it’s like I’m literally Hitler! I’m not. I take each individual one at a time, in the way that any logical individual will. I have love in my heart. Over the years, I’ve learned to take the first step with love and to put good faith first. I get along with everybody. If there’s any doubt about my political leanings, people should get it out of their heads. I was raised amongst a dazzling cast of characters from the theatre, from the mental hospital, from all walks of life — all colors, creeds and kinds. It’s absurd to me that anyone in this day and age would judge anyone by the color of their skin, their heritage or their religion. I’m a harmless guy. I’m a reactionary, not a troublemaker.”

In the days following the “Dimebash” incident, MACHINE HEAD‘s Robb Flynn — who played PANTERA songs with Anselmo at the event — released an eleven-minute response video in which he denounced Anselmo as a “big bully” and a racist. He concluded by saying that he would never play another PANTERA song again. ANTHRAX‘s Scott Ian, who is Jewish, released a statement on his official web site saying, “Philip‘s actions were vile” and invited Anselmo to make a donation to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Vinnie Paul, who hadn’t spoken to Anselmo since the band’s split in 2003, was dismissive when asked for a comment on the singer’s white-power salute. “I can’t speak for him,” Vinnie said in a 2016 interview. “He’s done a lot of things that tarnish the image of what PANTERA was back then and what it stood for and what it was all about. And it’s sad.”

In 2017, Anselmo blasted “false journalism in the metal community” for suggesting he was racist because of his actions at “Dimebash”.

In the weeks after the “Dimebash” incident, Anselmo‘s DOWN project canceled a number of shows, including at France’s Hellfest, Dutch festival FortaRock and U.K.’s Download. The singer wrote an open letter to the Hellfest organizers in which he said it was not the right time for DOWN to tour. He also revealed that he was suffering from a recurring knee injury and needed rehabilitation.

This past January, PANTERA‘s appearances at two rock festivals in Germany, which were scheduled to take place in early June, were canceled following an outcry over Anselmo‘s previous racist remarks.