Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider said Saturday he’s OK with Ukrainians – and Russians opposed to Vladimir Putin – using the band’s 1984 anthem “We’re Not Gonna Take It” at protests.
“I absolutely approve of Ukrainians using ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ as their battlecry,” the 66-year-old rocker, who wrote the song, tweeted. “My grandfather was Ukrainian, before it was swallowed up by the USSR after WW2. This can’t happen to these people again!”
Snider said the Russian people need to take responsibility “for the piece of s**t they have allowed to stay in power for 22 years.” He acknowledged that “unfortunately they are being fed a stream of propaganda by the Russian government telling them that Ukraine is the aggressor.
The singer said the Russian people “all have culpability.”
Challenged on this, Snider fired back: “My grandfather was Ukrainian when it was taken over by Russia after WW2. My grandmother was Transylvanian when the Russians took over & occupied the Carpathian mountains. Who do you think were carrying those Russian guns, driving the tanks & flying those planes? Canadians?
“People can only say, "I was just following orders’ for so long.”
Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” was adopted last month by truckers and others who occupied Ottawa for more than three weeks. The song was blasted daily from the makeshift stage set up on Wellington St. In front of the Parliament buildings.
On Sunday, Snider explained the difference between anti-Russia and anti-mandates protests.
“People are asking me why I endorsed the use of ‘We're Not Gonna Take It’ for the Ukrainian people and did not for the anti-maskers,” he tweeted. “Well, one use is for a righteous battle against oppression; the other is … infantile feet stomping against an inconvenience."
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