BRUCE DICKINSON: 'Nazi Salutes Have No Place Whatsoever' In Heavy Metal Community

IRON MAIDEN vocalist Bruce Dickinson has blasted a heavy metal fan for giving the right-arm salute at a show in Canada last weekend.

The man, whose identity has not been revealed, was kicked out of a DEATH PREACHER concert in downtown Vancouver on December 8 after making the Nazi gesture.

“It’s nonsense,” Dickinson told CBC News about the incident. “Nazi salutes have no place whatsoever in any kind of music community I want to belong to.

“I think people need a little bit more of a lesson in history, rather than a lesson in ignorance, which seems to be dished out far too often,” he continued.

“People in this country — across the USA, Canada, the U.K.— fathers and grandfathers, fought and died to build a world in which this kind of thing doesn’t go on,” the singer added.

Joey Hockin of Journeyman Productions, which promoted the DEATH PREACHER concert, told the Vancouver Courier that “Naziism” is unacceptable at his shows.

“I’m coming up to promoting 80 shows in Vancouver and this is the first time this has happened at one of my shows,” he said. “I don’t want my shows to be associated with that kind of thing.

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion and there is the issue of free speech, but it’s my show and I’m going to draw the line and say, ‘No Nazis at my shows.’ End of story,” he added. “It was completely out of place. It’s not like the bands are Nazi supporters. He was asking for trouble doing that.”

Former PANTERA singer Philip Anselmo made headlines nearly two years ago when he was caught on video making a Nazi-style salute and appearing to say “white power” at a concert in California.

Although Anselmo initially commented on the video to claim that he was “joking,” he later apologized for what he did, saying that “it was uncalled for” and asking fans to give him “another chance.”

In the days following the incident, MACHINE HEAD‘s Robb Flynn — who played PANTERA songs with Anselmo at “Dimebash” — released an eleven-minute response video in which he denounced Anselmo as a “big bully” and a racist. He concluded by saying that he would never play another PANTERA song again. ANTHRAX‘s Scott Ian, who is Jewish, released a statement on his official web site saying, “Philip‘s actions were vile” and invited Anselmo to make a donation to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a human-rights organization that confronts anti-Semitism and hate speech.