Recent controversy surrounding the Confederate flag has brought attention to groups who incorporate it into their merch and stage shows, including defunct headbangers Pantera who still sell T-shirts sporting the emblem. Now the group's former singer, Phil Anselmo – who is currently performing with the reactivated metal group Superjoint – says he's thinking twice about his past associations with the rebel flag.

"It'd be like, Would we be flying the Nazi flag?" he asked a reporter for Hard Rock Haven. "I don't think so, because flags are looked at whether it be nationalism or symbols of something. Truthfully, it's like...I wish fucking everyone would get along."

The singer went on to explain that the reason he and his former bandmates might have used the Confederate Flag in the first place was "our love of bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd." (The band's now-deceased guitarist, Dimebag Darrell, was known for using a guitar that sported the design.) But he also acknowledges that "there was never a time when it was OK to promote hate." That said, he also offered, "It was never this blatant thing unless I was completely out of my mind, which I was at points in time."

Anselmo, who was born and raised in New Orleans before joining the Dallas-based group, went on to explain his evolving sentiment about the flag. "These days, I wouldn't want anything to fucking do with it because truthfully...I wouldn't," he said. "The way I feel and the group of people I've had to work with my whole life, you see a Confederate flag out there that says 'Heritage, not hate.' I'm not so sure I'm buying into that."



http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/phil-anselmo-on-confederate-flag-i-dont-want-anything-to-do-with-it-20150713