Staind's Aaron Lewis on Ukraine: “Maybe we should listen to what Vladimir Putin is saying”
Staind‘s Aaron Lewis shared right wing conspiracy theories about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during an onstage rant last week (March 17).
While playing a solo show, Lewis seemingly backed a baseless argument that Russian President Vladimir Putin is invading Ukraine in order to dismantle the so-called ‘Deep State’ – a clandestine government sect formed to undermine former President Donald Trump.
“So, I’m not gonna go into some big get-myself-in-trouble dissertation. All I’m gonna say is this: question everything. Everything that they’re telling you right now is a lie. Everything,” Lewis said [per Blabbermouth].
Describing the US as “the most corrupt country in the world,” he added: “I don’t know who’s worse – the Democrats that are trying to destroy this country or the Republicans that sit idly by while they do so.”
He then said that the US government “have you convinced that we all need to support Ukraine even though all of their money laundering systems, all of their everything, the way that they get all their kickbacks and they wash everything is all through the Ukraine”.
He then shared a swathe of COVID-related misinformation. “They made you believe that a vaccine was gonna keep you safe. They made you think that a fucking mask was gonna keep you safe. They made you think that avoiding your friends and your family and staying locked up in your house was gonna somehow keep you safe.
“But guess what – didn’t we all get COVID? Didn’t every single of us in this fucking room get COVID and live to tell the tale? We’re okay. I survived. I didn’t stick that poison in my fucking body. I did just fine. I had it twice. I’m not fucking dead.”
Returning to the subject of war in Ukraine, he claimed that Russia’s invasion is somehow tied to billionaire philanthropist George Soros and World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab.
“You know, as fucked up as it sounds, maybe we should listen to what Vladimir Putin is saying,” he said. “Maybe, just maybe, when Klaus Schwab and George Soros and every other dirty fucking earth-destroying motherfucker all jumps on the same bandwagon, maybe, just maybe we should fucking take a good look at that. Why are they trying to protect Ukraine so much? What do they all have to lose?”
Lewis then referred to an intentionally miscaptioned video shared by pro-Kremlin social media accounts in which a body bag in the background of a news report appears to start moving. Despite being claimed as proof of Western propaganda, the footage is in fact from a climate change protest in Vienna in February.
“People, if you haven’t seen that, you’d better start fucking looking elsewhere,” Lewis said. “If you haven’t seen Vladimir Putin actually say that he’s fighting the ‘Deep State’ right now, which is the same people we’re fighting, which is the same people everywhere on the face of this earth that people are fighting for freedom.
“You know, we need to reassess and think about who it is, who these people are, what makes them worthy of us putting all of our faith and all of our trust in these fucking snake oil salesmen.”
Lewis, who embarked on a career as a country singer in 2010, has courted controversy many times in the past with his outspoken conservative politics.
Last month, he welcomed North Carolina Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn, who has developed a following as one of the most right-wing members of congress, on stage during a concert.
He’s also led crowds through chants of ‘Fuck Joe Biden’ and last year rallied against Bruce Springsteen and statue removal in a bizarre solo track called ‘Am I The Only One’.
Yesteday, meanwhile, Billy Bragg criticised Ukrainian band Beton for their supposed far-right links, after they released a cover of The Clash’s ‘London’s Calling’. Last week, the Ukrainian punk band reworked The Clash’s iconic track to create ‘Kyiv Calling’, a protest song against the Russian invasion.
