The post System of a Down’s John Dolmayan Says He’s Lost “Friends” and “Hundreds of Thousands of Fans” Due to Political Beliefs appeared first on Consequence.
System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan has not shied away from sharing his political opinions — especially during the months surrounding the 2020 US presidential election and its aftermath.
An outspoken supporter of embattled former US president Donald Trump, Dolmayan took to Instagram on Sunday (October 22nd) to claim that he’s lost “people that I thought were friends” and “hundreds of thousands of fans” because of his beliefs and willingness to espouse them online.
The drummer shared the following statement posted as an image on his account, suggesting that some of his detractors are now seeing the validity of his opinions:
“I lost people that I thought were friends over the last few years primarily due to my unwillingness to accept the narratives they are now questioning the validity of. Not to mention hundreds of thousands of fans who couldn’t handle my opinions here on Instagram. When you endeavor to help those in peril, or guide those that are being duped, sometimes you lose because of it. You do it anyway.”
Added Dolmayan in the post’s caption: “And I’ll do it again.”
As we’ve reported in the past, Dolmayan’s opinions have included questioning the legitimacy of Black Lives Matter, calling democrats the “true bigots,” and hailing Trump as the “greatest friend to minorities.”
He previously elaborated on the personal impact of sharing his political views in a 2022 interview [transcribed via Blabbermouth], discussing the amount of Instagram followers he’s lost since the 2020 election cycle.
“I’ve hovered around 250 thousand followers for probably, like, three years or four years,” Dolmayan said. “When we were in the middle of the Trump-versus-Biden debacle and attempting to figure out who was gonna continue to lead this country, I lost a ton of followers every time I would post something that was either pro-Trump or pro my opinions one way or the other.”
He continued: “It wasn’t always that I agreed with Trump, but I agreed with the philosophy of making the United States our first priority, making sure that our citizens were our first priority, which is what pretty much every country, household — when you break it down to a household level — that’s what you’re concerned with the most. Of course you don’t want to hurt your neighbors — you want everybody to succeed and prosper — but at the end of the day, if you’re not focused on your home, you’re not gonna be able to help anybody else anyway. I would post something, and I would instantly lose a thousand, two thousand people. I probably blocked five thousand people.”
Dolmayan’s views are in stark contrast to his SOAD bandmate and brother-in-law Serj Tankian, who opened up about their differences in a 2021 interview with Heavy Consequence. Tankian said that he respects Dolmayan in many ways, but is not a fan of the drummer’s views on American politics.
“We’re very good friends, we’re family, and he’s my drummer in my band, so of course we’ve talked about many, many different things, including political views,” Tankian told us. “When you don’t agree with someone after a while about a certain topic … look, it doesn’t mean that we don’t agree about other stuff. We agree a lot about Armenian stuff, for example, a lot about family stuff, a lot of other things, a lot of personal stuff. But when it comes to American politics, we happen to be on the polar opposite ends of it, and we’re both very passionate and vehement about our views, which is fine.”
As for System of a Down, the alt-metal veterans have mostly kept a low profile as of late, emerging only for a headlining appearance at the inaugural Sick New World fest this past May. However, SOAD are set to return as headliners for the second edition of Sick New World coming up in Las Vegas in April, with tickets available here. In addition, Tankian just announced his memoir, Down With the System, which is set to arrive on May 14th, 2024.
See John Dolmayan’s Instagram post below.
System of a Down’s John Dolmayan Says He’s Lost “Friends” and “Hundreds of Thousands of Fans” Due to Political Beliefs
Jon Hadusek
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