Pantera removed from two German festivals due to Anselmo’s past racist gestures

Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, two of Europe’s biggest rock festivals, have announced that the reformed American band will not be performing as previously announced.

A translated version of a statement posted on both festivals’ Facebook pages announces that Pantera— featuring surviving members Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown (bass) along with guitarist Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society) and drummer Charlie Benante (Anthrax) — is being removed from their lineups

“In the last few weeks, we have had many intensive conversations with artists, our partners and you, the festival fans, we have continued to deal with the criticism together and decided to remove the band from the program”, said the organizers on Monday in identical statements.

In January 2016, Anselmo made a Nazi salute when he performed at the “Dimebash” event at the Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood in honor of late Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. He also could be heard screaming “white power” while issuing the Nazi-style salute. The frontman 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.

The festivals, which take place June 2-4 in Nürburgring and Nürnberg, will feature appearances from Rise Against, Limp Bizkit, Kings Of Leon, Tenacious D, Bring Me The Horizon, Machine Gun Kelly and many more.