A heavy metal band staged a mock “beheading of Elon Musk” before “murdering President Trump” on stage at a festival this weekend.
Video footage reveals a band called Gwar – featuring members dressed up as ogres carrying swords – slicing off the head of the chainsaw-wielding Elon Musk mannequin, before fake blood spurted out and drenched the audience.
Numerous attendees applauded, while others recorded the spectacle on their mobile phones at Riot Fest in Chicago.
A five-second clip of the eccentric billionaire beheading was shared to X by an account suspiciously named ‘Karen’.
The news comes amid a surge of criticism that the group are “normalising” violence, reports The Mirror US.
“That’s not edgy, it’s grotesque and reckless and normalizes violence against a real person. This is not okay. Riot Fest and GWAR crossed a major line,” one X user posted, resharing the footage.
It remains uncertain whether that X user is acquainted with Gwar’s typical repertoire, with the group frequently utilising fake blood and/or semen in their performances.
One live recording from 2017 shows the band costumed as creatures performing a cover rendition of AC/DC’s If You Want Blood (You Got It), while a mannequin of Donald Trump has its chest cavity torn apart.
“Welcome to GWAR. They are from outer space. They once released an album called ‘We kill everything’ because they do in fact kill everything,” another X user shared. Anonymous also chimed in, responding to ‘Karen’: “F— Elon Musk. Call the manager, you f—— loser. It’s like you never heard of GWAR before you f—— p—-.”
Riot Fest recently reacted to a video of the gruesome act, remarking: “Like I know this is a rage bait engagement farming Twitter account, but ‘GWAR crossed a major line’ is one of the funniest f–—— things I’ve ever heard.”
Some fans criticised the band’s sketch for its poor “timing”. One user commented, “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 rotten timing.”
In response, Riot Fest retorted, “Shut the f— up, you dork a– loser.”
This year, the rock festival in Chicago, Illinois, was headlined by Green Day and Blink 182. Other rock acts such as Jack White and Weezer rounded out the lineup.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic entertained a massive crowd, and UK band James delivered an energetic performance that ended in an on-stage dance party during their hit song Laid.