GWAR received death threats after satirical Trump killing at Riot Fest
GWAR guitarist Mike Derks has spoken out about the death threats the band received after their performance at Riot Fest in Chicago in 2025 sparked a fierce backlash from MAGA circles. In a new interview with The Guardian, Derks described the fallout from the band’s theatrical stage skit in which an actor portraying Donald Trump was cartoonishly “disembowelled” in a shower of fake blood, followed by a similar routine targeting a character depicting Elon Musk.
Footage of the performance went viral almost instantly. Right-wing account Libs of TikTok labelled it “incitement” and called for the band to be banned from performing — apparently unaware that GWAR have been staging these grotesque, satirical executions of public figures for over four decades. Past targets include Reagan, both Bushes, Clinton, Obama, Biden, Michael Jackson and Mike Tyson.
“In a sense, it’s just laughable, but it was scary when we were getting death threats over social media, » said Derks, known onstage as Balsac the Jaws of Death. “It did get me very upset when people were trying to say: 'Oh, you can’t do that.' This is the country where we’re supposed to be able to do that! People were saying we can’t do it after we’d been doing it for 40 years.”
Vocalist Blöthar The Berserker had already dismissed the accusations shortly after the festival, telling Billboard that the notion of GWAR normalising violence was “patently absurd”. A band representative added: “There is nothing normal about the Looney Toon violence acted out on a GWAR stage. GWAR is absurdist spectacle. GWAR is to violence what the New York Post is to journalism. Ridiculous.” In the same Guardian piece, Derks explained that the band’s concept was rooted in parody from the start, poking fun at how metal acts used satanic and monster imagery without fully committing to it. GWAR are currently on tour across the States with Soulfly and King Parrot, and released EP The Return of Gor Gor last year.
