We all have posted our favourite metal lyrics online at one point or another, but this poor Exodus fan unfortunately faced the arm of the law when it was deemed the Exodus lyrics he posted online were deemed a terrorist threat…
31-year old James Evans who regularly posted lyrics on Facebook, posted these ones on August 24th:
“Student bodies lying dead in the halls, a blood splattered treatise of hate. Class dismissed is my hypothesis, gun fire ends in debate.”
Given the threat of school shootings that has been very prominent in the United States recently, calls were made about the post and Evans was swiftly arrested without an inquiry where he spent 8 days in jail. Evans said about the arrest:
“It’s nonsense. I feel like my civil rights have been violated. You know first amendment freedom of speech out the window. Even all the guys I was in the cell with they thought it was nonsense themselves. I had several officials tell me it was nonsense that there was no reason why I should have even been here.”
Those are provocative lyrics to post online, but you can’t help but feel Evans has been arrested for being an Exodus fan. He is scheduled to appear in court about the post as well as receive a mental evaluation.
Exodus guitarist Gary Holt responded to the event to explain the song, making the arrest seem all the more ridiculous:
“The idea that an individual in this great country of ours could be arrested for simply posting lyrics to a song is something I never believed could happen in a free society. James Evans was simply posting lyrics to a band he likes on Facebook, and he was locked up for it. The song ‘Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer)’ was written as a view through the eyes of a madman and in no way endorses that kind of fucked up behavior. It was the Virginia Tech massacre perpetrated by Seung-Hui Cho that was the subject and inspiration to write the song, one in which we put the brakes on playing it live after the Sandy Hook shooting, as we did not want to seem insensitive.”
He continued:
“As some of us in Exodus are parents, of course these things hit close to home, it’s every parent’s worst fear. These moments are the stuff of nightmares, and life, as well as music, isn’t always pretty. But when we start to overreact to things like lyrics by any band, including Exodus, and start arresting people, we are caving in to paranoia and are well on our way to becoming an Orwellian society.”
We feel for Evans at this time. Better not post Rhapsody lyrics or society might deem riding a unicorn wielding the emerald sword would be a terrorist threat.
