Roger Waters Rips James Hetfield: “He’s Just Showing That He’s a Complete Prick”

In the video that has now gone viral, Hetfield says “Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their bullshit, okay? We are here–no bullshit–we’re here to forget about all the outside shit, okay? Metallica’s agenda is love, energy and heavy music, baby.” The comment ruffled feathers due to the sociopolitical content that exists within the thrash band’s discography (“One,” “Blackened,” “Disposable Heroes,” and more) and the fact that Hetfield‘s statement at the show contradicted that statement.

In a recent podcast appearance, host Katie Halper went onto show a multitude of comments from Hetfield over the years, including his joking about Metallica being used to torture people. Waters cut in, saying “He’s just showing that he’s a complete prick. He’s got an IQ of about three. I honestly don’t know why we’re talking about him because he’s a nobody. He may have a few hundred million dollars from wherever, but he’s a prick.”

Speaking to Katie Halper, he said that Hetfield is “no musician. I heard them. I heard them playing acoustic instruments, and they couldn’t. It was appalling.” However, “that’s neither here nor there, people like Metallica–I couldn’t care less.” At the end of the day, for Waters, it boiled down to one simple anecdote.

“An artist friend of mine wrote a great book [for children], called The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse, and on page three, the mole and the boy are sitting on a branch in a tree, and the mole says to the boy, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ And the boy says, ‘Kind.'” Waters explained. “Well, it’s a shame this prick didn’t have somebody around him to explain being kind is way more important than all that loud music and bouncing around. Being kind, have some empathy for your fellow human beings.”