System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian Blasts Imagine Dragons

System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian has let his feelings be known concerning Imagine Dragons and their decision to perform a show in Azerbaijan. Last month, Tankian blasted them after the band performed a Sept. 2, 2023 gig in Baku. “I don’t respect them as human beings,” Tankian told Metal Hammer. “F*ck their art, they’re not good human beings as far as I’m concerned.”

Tankian wrote a letter to the band prior to the gig asking that they pull out saying the show would help to “whitewash the dictatorial regime’s image.”

Imagine Dragons singer Dan Reynolds responded to Tankian’s criticism in an interview with Rolling Stone saying: “I don’t believe in depriving our fans who want to see us play because of the acts of their leaders and their governments. I think that’s a really slippery slope. I think the second you start to do that, there’s corrupt leaders and warmongers all over the world, and where do you draw the line?”

Tankian fired back via social media: “Respectfully, I draw the line at ethnic cleansing and genocide. Azerbaijan’s dictatorship with popular support was already into a 9 month starvation blockade of Nagorno-Karabagh qualified as Genocide by a former prosecutor when they decided to play Baku.”

He continued: “Would they play in Nazi Germany? Why don’t they want to play in Russia? Because it’s not popular? They support Ukraine but not Armenians of Artsakh? The only ‘slippery slope’ is the farce moral equivalency at the heart of this hypocritical attitude.”

He closed with: “I have nothing against this guy nor his band. I just hate artists being taken advantage of to whitewash Genocidal dictatorships.”