Imagine trying to cancel GWAR
— Bobby Big Wheel (@kleinman.bsky.social) September 22, 2025 at 7:33 PM
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GWAR has been tailoring its act to provoke vapors in the religious right and moralizing TV talk show hosts for 40 fucking years so good luck getting them to flinch
— Zeddy (@zeddary.bsky.social) September 22, 2025 at 8:05 PM
I think we can safely say that Charlie Kirk’s moment is over, if grifters like LibsofTikTok are reduced to faking outrage at a satirical (satyrical?) riot band. GWAR’s response, per Consequence:
To quote one social media user, GWAR are equal-opportunity beheaders. Over the years, the shock metal band has staged faux executions of every president of the last four decades (Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama, Trump, and Biden), as well as Hillary Clinton, Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson, and even Jesus Christ. Chances are, if you’re a famous person, they’ve killed you onstage. The band’s set at Riot Fest this weekend was no different, as they beheaded Elon Musk and stabbed Trump.
This time, though, MAGA picked up on GWAR’s antics and is crying foul. Both conservative-leaning websites Brietbart and New York Post have published articles on the band’s performance at Riot Fest, while videos of GWAR circulated widely on X/Twitter throughout the weekend. “Listen I know they do this to every leader and even did Obama but after what happened with Charlie Kirk last week it’s just retarded timing,” one user complained. Libs of TikTok called GWAR’s performance an act of “incitement,” adding that, “Democrats can’t help themselves. They love promoting violence.”
A representative for GWAR pushed against the New York Post’s article a statement: “Normalizing violence? Humans don’t need GWAR for that. There is nothing normal about the Looney Toon violence acted out on a GWAR stage. GWAR is absurdist spectacle. GWAR is to violence what the New York Post is to journalism. Ridiculous.”…
The kicker? The viral clip that set off the controversy may have been planted from inside GWAR’s own orbit. The clip was the very first post from an account called @hottakekaren, whose bio reads “GWAR’s biggest fan.” The post tagged @RiotFest, @GWAR, and @ElonMusk, while subsequent uploads from the same account tagged @realdonaldtrump, @JDVance, and even @FBI. Whether it was the band, Riot Fest, or a devoted fan, the stunt clearly worked. If the goal was to rile up MAGA and give GWAR a burst of viral attention, consider it mission accomplished.
GWAR are an American institution & liberals have every right to be proud of ensuring their right to bring cartoon violence & hearing loss to the American people
— Chatham Harrison dba TRUMP DELENDUS EST (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) September 22, 2025 at 7:54 PM
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I regret to inform you that Gwar has pushed the boundaries of good taste.
— Damion Schubert (@zenofdesign.com) September 22, 2025 at 3:50 PM
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Now seems like a fun time to remind everyone that GWAR did an NPR Tiny Desk concert
— Ian Boudreau (@ianboudreau.com) September 22, 2025 at 7:43 PM
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“Ladies and gentleman, GWAR”
— derek van vliet (@derek.bike) September 22, 2025 at 8:57 PM
cain
Finally a target for that Libs of TikTok character can’t bully or bully others to do cancel culture.
Let her grind her teeth. I will enjoy that.
Another Scott
So that’s what “GWAR” is. I was wondering in an earlier thread but didn’t get a chance to look.
Reminds me of Hustler Magazine v Falwell in which Jerry The Father decided that satire about him and his first time with his mother was worth a SCOTUS case in the late 1980s (which he lost 9:0).
Oh please, oh please get upset about our satire. Oh please…!!
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
JoyceH
I’d never heard of GWAR before today when I started seeing it mentioned everywhere. The mentions seldom give enough context, so I was puzzling about “global war something something”. Finally googled and now I’m caught up.
Keith P.
I had friends going to see GWAR in concert when I was in high school…in the early 90s. People would bring ponchos so they wouldn’t get doused in simulated semen from the giant penis they had onstage. This stuff is nothing (but not quite on par with media describing Eddie Vedder putting a GW Bush mask on a mic stand as “impaling the head of a decapitated President Bush”)
piratedan
I think the VERY best thing that Jimmy Kimmel could say would be to repeat the very said same statement that got him suspended.
Let all those that are tuned in see, just how respectful he was to the Kirk family and his disdain for the 47 Admin for how they were propagandizing it.
No One of Consequence
Hahahahawesome! Some unprepared folks might stumble into a American cultural backwater/phenomenon/touristOddity GWAR. Hahahaa. I used to think those guys were kind of tame after a particularly vicious BillyGoat concert I can barely recall from school days. Still, the idea they would even read the character name: Dominatrix Hymen with any kind of serious consideration makes me giggle.
I also liked the quote: Absurdist Spectacle. That’s about right. Seems tailor made for these times, no?
Peace all,
-NOoC
prostratedragon
SpaceUnit
Okay I feel like the grandfather at the end of Moonstruck.
Marc
GWAR’s stuff is tame, when I was that age, we had Survival Research Laboratories. I was, uh, present at this performance. IIRC, none of the audience or performers were injured that time, that was not always the case.
MobiusKlein
Went to one Gwar concert back in college in the … long past … my skin had a bad reaction to the fake blood and such. Took a week to recover at least.
The topic for the concert – Who’s **** do you need to suck to become Pope. I think the pope may have been sodomized by then end.
eclare
@SpaceUnit:
I had to Google it, otherwise I would be confused.
Jay
Anne Laurie
I know I did at least one post about GWAR some years ago — presumably the last time the MAGAts got themselves lathered up over the band — but my weak search talents can’t distinguish GWAR from Adam’s many WAR posts!
Another Scott
@Anne Laurie: Made me look. As usual, when it’s old enough Google is useless.
From the Site Search here, searching for GWAR, a few pages in:
Open Thread – A Man A Plan The Cuttlefish of Cthulu and the Super Bowl.
HTH!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Jackie
@prostratedragon:
FFOTUS finally speaks TRUTH!
Steve Paradis
Wiki’s deadpan opener:
Libs of TikTok is a username for various far-right and anti-LGBTQ social-media accounts operated by Chaya Raichik , a former real estate agent.
a former real estate agent. How far down the line is that? Former spec screenwriter? Former substitute teacher? Former Sephora stylist?
Anne Laurie
@Another Scott: Thank you!
(Good to know I was already following Dave Roth, in my own incompetent way, back in 2014.)
NotMax
Two things I learned today.
1) Whatever the hell GWAR is.
2) That Coleco (older gamers may well remember the revolutionary ColecoVision console) emerged from the minds and efforts of the Connecticut Leather Company. A company specializing in leather goods which had already been successful for decades is about the last place you’d expect to make and market their own electronics.
JaySinWa
@NotMax: A Tandy competitor?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_Corporation
JaySinWa
For those of you who are here today but gone tomorrow, bon voyage.
Come the rapture all the saints maintaining software and hardware will be gone. Plan accordingly.
Martin
@NotMax: The company that makes Ball mason jars has an aerospace division. They make star finders for spacecraft navigation, and made the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Capitalism is full of surprises.
NotMax
@JaySinWa
Except Edgar.
Genius at his job he may be but is the very antithesis of a saint.
:)
JaySinWa
@JaySinWa: I may be a bit late for EDT and CDT folks.
oregonlive.com/news/2025/09/what-is-the-rapture-viral-predictions-about-sept-23-24-explained.html
Tik Tok MFers
NotMax
@Martin
Mars Needs Balls.
:)
JaySinWa
@NotMax: More likely Balls need Mars.
NotMax
@JaySinWa
See both the Little Disappointment and the Great Disappointment.
Yet somehow Seventh Day Adventists are still extant.
Shalimar
@Another Scott: I hadn’t heard anything from GWAR in a decade. That post may have been the last time. Honestly didn’t know or care that they’re still working. I would bet at least 90% of Congress wouldn’t know who they are, but sure, they represent all evil liberals.
danielx
@Jackie:
He does speak the truth (for once in his life) and by all appearances they’re getting stupider by the day.
NotMax
@Another Scott
If Cthulhu ran a railroad.
ArchTeryx
@NotMax: Really nasty boiler explosion. They probably exposed the crown sheet with insufficient water and that weakened the boiler housing. It popped like a balloon – and released superheated steam at >120psi right into the crew. None survived.
This wasn’t common, but it was the failure that crews feared most from what I was told. You don’t get much more painful a death than scalding.
cain
@JaySinWa:
It’s nice that it is happening between the Jewish and Hindu holidays!
mrmoshpotato
@JaySinWa:
So the 24th? We get to see Jimmy Kimmel return, then…?
Baud
I too am new to GWAR.
But if MAGA hate them, I love them.
Baud
@JaySinWa:
No worries. ICE is ready.
ryk
A bluesky skeet that made me lol:
It’s all fun and games until a cop handles a Tylenol gelcap with no gloves and within seconds their socks are bothering them.
Nukular Biskits
Thank you, Anne, for educating me as to what GWAR was. I had no idea what was being referenced on social media.
I’m an old.
Baud
@Nukular Biskits:
Based on the post, GWAR has been around for a while. So it’s not that we’re old, it’s that we’re uncultured.
satby
@Nukular Biskits: I’m 70 and it’s a 40 year old band. Not my type of music at all, not a metal fan, but it’s not because I’m old
Edit: several of my nieces and nephews were at Riotfest, they go every year. I’ll have to ask if they hung around for GWAR.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
Never have I been so offended by something so absolutely, irrefutably correct.
Nukular Biskits
@satby:
Never was much of a metal fan but I have to admit, having a wide range of musical tastes, I honestly don’t recall ever hearing of this band.
And knowing they did a Tiny Desk concert makes this all the funnier.
More power to them.
Geminid
There will a big meeting today, on the sidelines of the Fall U.N. General Assembly meeting. Barak Ravid has some details in an Axios article titled:
The Arab leaders will represent Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt. Leaders from Muslim nations Turkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia will also attend.
The support should be there. As far as I can tell, this plan tracks the one Saudia Arabia proposed 17 months ago, in February of 2024. Egypt, Jordan and the UAE endorsed it at the time. The plan called for an Arab-led miltary peacekeeping force for Gaza that would back up security forces from Fatah, the armed wing of the Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah, the West Bank.
The Israelis know what’s coming:
So there could be another consequential meeting after the weekend:
Baud
@Geminid:
If it works, maybe the Saudis alone should get the Nobel. That would be enjoyable to watch.
NotMax
@Geminid
Will he be bringing along posterboards with artist renditions of hotels and casinos on the shore?
“And this is the centerpiece, which we’re calling Koran Plaza.”
Geminid
@Baud: Yeah, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bone Saw, up on Oslo stage!
No One of Consequence
@Baud: /golfclap
-NOoC
Matt McIrvin
@Geminid: I don’t get it. Doesn’t Trump ALSO plan to scour Gaza of all traces of humanity and redevelop it into a luxury resort? How does that jibe with this?
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Yeah, I remember first hearing about them 30-plus years ago.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: I never took the plan Trump announced for Gaza last April that seriously. Administration officials started walking it back almost immediately. Aside from being immoral, the plan was infeasible.
different-church-lady
I’m surprised to find out Gwar is a branch of the Democratic Party.
different-church-lady
@Matt McIrvin:Netanyahu wants to scour it of all humanity. Trump just wants the development rights.
JML
Clearly, not enough people around here have seen Empire Records if you don’t know GWAR.
:P
ljdramone
@Marc:
we had Survival Research Laboratories.
I see your SRL, and raise the Mutoid Waste Company. Saw them in Berlin in 1992.
ljdramone
@Martin: Ball Aerospace also made the corrective optical assembly that fixed the spherical aberration problem on the Hubble Space Telescope’s primary mirrory back in 1993, and made optical components for most of the instruments on the Webb Telescope.
(not that I’m obsessed with space telescopes or nuthin’)
MinuteMan
@JaySinWa: Come the rapture all the saints maintaining software and hardware will be gone. Plan accordingly.
Not to worry since software is the devil’s work and maintenance developers reside in the lower circles of hell.
getsmartin
I brought a Swedish friend to a GWAR show back in the 90s, selling them as a progressive jazz band. He knew he had been duped when we were in line to get into the venue with all the heavy metal-garbed people there. His cardigan sweater got ruined by the stage blood that was sprayed into the audience. He was genuinely thankful for being hoodwinked into attending.
artem1s
You’re up Weird Al. Damn, I wish Peter Schickele was still alive.
artem1s
what he hasn’t booked his flight yet? he doesn’t know where he’s landing – Eastern or Western hemisphere? Is he confused about when daylight savings starts?
Paul in KY
I have seen GWAR a few times. 1st time was at a small venue in Louisville. I got there early and was on rail awaiting them. I noticed that alot of the younger people appeared to be wearing ratty white t-shirts. Thought it was sorta strange and continued waiting. One of the security people came up to me about 10 minutes before set went off and explained to me that they shot all kinds of ‘substances’ out at crowd and since I had a nice shirt on, I might want to move back a bit. I then figured out why the t-shirts and moved back and had a wonderful time. This was when Oderous Ungaranus (sic?) ran the show.
Burrowing Owl
@Baud: My spouse went to see RAWG playing at a small park in NW DC more than 30 years ago. RAWG is GWAR without the stuff (costumes, props), just playing their music. Spouse says their biggest hit, ”Sick of You,” came out in 1990 or so.
Paul in KY
@ArchTeryx: Very sad.
Paul in KY
@Nukular Biskits: To me, it’s amazing they play so well with all the crap they are wearing.
dnfree
@NotMax: The second business computer system I ever programmed on (1966) was an NCR 315, from the National Cash Register company. I bet few people remember that! Their assembler language was NEAT, National Easy Assembler Technique.
Czar Chasm
”cause we are GWAARRR”
My hometown heroes from back in the day, here on BJ! Infamy is theirs!!!
(Still miss you, Brockie)