Dee Snider isn’t sure if he’s going to take it anymore — when it comes to his friend, Donald Trump, using his music.
In light of Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, the Twisted Sister lead singer said that even though he told Trump a few months ago that he could use his song “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” he’s starting to rethink that decision.
Snider said that he had become friends with Trump after his appearances on “Celebrity Apprentice,” and still considers Trump a friend, despite the controversial comments he’s made during his presidential election.
“But what’s going on now has me questioning whether allowing the song to continue to be used. And it’s very upsetting to me because I strongly don’t agree with his extremist positions, and it’s not so much, I know the man’s not a racist, he’s a friend of mine, but when you’ve got white supremacy groups aligning themselves with you and you don’t denounce them,” Snider said in an interview with Shad of CBC’s radio show “Q” on Thursday. “That’s a problem for me.”
Snider added that he’s going to call Trump about the song.
“I have to speak to him, as a friend,” Snider said. “He was respectful enough to call me and say, ‘How do you feel about me using this?’ And I’ve got to be, as a friend respectful enough to call him and say, ‘Listen man, this has gotten wildly out of control and I really have a problem with it, as so many people do.’ “
He said that the version of Trump that he knows is different than the Trump that the public knows.
“My Donald Trump was a Democrat,” he said. “My Donald Trump is pro-choice. My Donald Trump is what we call a Northeastern Republican, you know, fiscally conservative, socially liberal. But that’s changing.”
Snider said that he has previously not allowed other politicians who oppose abortion rights to use his music, such as GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan in 2012.
Snider isn’t the first musician to not want Trump to play his music at rallies. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith sent Trump a cease-and-desist letter for using “Dream On” at his campaign rallies and R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe blasted Trump for playing “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” on the campaign trail.