Heavy metal band GWAR shocked crowds at Riot Fest in Chicago this weekend. On stage, they acted out a fake beheading of Elon Musk and a mock killing of Donald Trump.

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What happened on stage?

A look-alike mannequin of Musk was rolled out, wearing sunglasses, a cap, a “D.O.G.E.” t-shirt, jeans, and a jacket.

One band member swung a sword and chopped off its head. Fake blood sprayed everywhere as the head flew across the stage. The crowd cheered and clapped.

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While longtime fans saw it as typical Gwar theater, many people online felt the band had gone too far. “That’s not edgy, it’s grotesque and reckless and normalises violence against a real person.

This is not okay. Riot Fest and Gwar crossed a major line,” one X user posted with the viral video.

Later, the same user updated their bio to say they were “GWAR’s biggest fan”, leaving people unsure if they were serious or just trolling.

Who is GWAR?

Formed in 1984 in Richmond, Virginia, Gwar (often written as GWAR) is known for wild costumes, over-the-top stage acts, spraying fake blood, urine, and even semen on fans, and their shows are built on shock value, and outrageous stunts have always been part of their identity.

Response from GWAR

A GWAR representative responded to the controversy saying, “Normalizing violence? Humans don’t need GWAR for that. There’s nothing normal about the Looney Toon violence performed on our stage. GWAR is an absurdist spectacle. It’s to violence what the New York Post is to journalism — ridiculous,” as told to New York Post.

Riot Fest also responded to the criticism, “Like I know this is a rage bait engagement farming twitter account, but ‘GWAR crossed a major line’ is one of the funniest fucking things I’ve ever heard,” the festival wrote on X.

‘They kill everyone’

A user wrote, “Saw a friend’s video from Riot Fest—GWAR mock-beheaded Elon Musk on stage. That’s not edgy, it’s grotesque and reckless and normalizes violence against a real person. This is not okay. Riot Fest and GWAR crossed a major line.”

Another added, “Welcome to GWAR. They are from outer space. They once released an album called “We kill everything” because they do in fact kill everything. They are the Scumdogs of the Universe for a reason.”

“This is Gwar. this is what they do and what they have done since the late 80s. they have pretended to kill basically every president in modern memory and a bunch of historical and pop culture figures. They even killed me in 2005 the first time we toured with them,” noted a netizen.

“Wait wait. Hold your fire. This is Gwar. They kill everyone. I saw them kill Obama and Hillary Clinton in person,” stated another.