Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx has ignited fresh debate online after a fiery clip of him calling out artists who preach politics during their live shows went viral on X.
The clip - seemingly from their North Carolina date of the Return of the Carnival of Sins tour - was circulated just days after Metallica frontman James Hetfield delivered his own blunt message about leaving political soapboxes at the door.
Hetfield made headlines during Metallica’s Life Burns Faster residency at Las Vegas Sphere on Saturday (10.10.26), telling fans: “Unless you live in Vegas, you've come a long way to spend some time with Metallica. We’re grateful for that – your travels, the money you spend, the time it took, thanks for coming to celebrate with us.”
He then took aim at performers who use the stage to push their beliefs: “And I just gotta say, Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their bulls, OK? We are here… no bulls… we’re here to forget about all the outside s***, OK?” He wrapped the speech with: “Metallica’s agenda is love, energy and heavy music, baby!”
Then the widely shared clip showing him delivering his own no‑nonsense stance on unity at Crüe shows started doing the rounds.
He said: “It does not matter to Mötley Crüe if you're a Republican, it does not matter to Mötley Crüe if you are a Democrat, it does not f****** matter if you are gay or straight, or if you're right down the centre of the f****** lane in life, because we are all in this together. Can we agree?”
Sixx has spoken about the issue before. In a 2020 interview with Yahoo!, he admitted he avoids political mudslinging despite having strong opinions.
He said: “We could do a whole interview where I would tell you my opinion on this administration, and other administrations, but I'm not a politician, I’m a rock star, and people don't want me to talk about stuff like that.
“They tell me to ‘stay in my lane’ and just stick to playing bass. I don't really want to just stick to playing bass, but I don't want to alienate and have a mudslinging contest.”