Rob Mackey reports:

This just in: Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor does not support George W. Bush or his, like, total bullshit war!!!!!

Yup, Reznor and company, who are still doing a big ol' victory lap around the U.S. in celebration of their surprisingly splendid comeback record With Teeth, recently backed out of a slotted MTV Movie Awards Performance after the network expressed hesitation about their proposed live-show backdrop, a picture of our current President.

"We were set to perform 'The Hand That Feeds' with an unmolested, straightforward image of George W. Bush as the backdrop," Reznor told fans via the band's website. "Apparently the image of our President is as offensive to MTV as it is to me." Take that, suits!

So, now we got MTV runnin' around doing damage control and making sterile statements like this: "While we respect Nine Inch Nails' point of view, we were uncomfortable with their performance being built around a partisan political statement. When we discussed our discomfort with the band, their choice was to unfortunately pull out of the Movie Awards."

But, this is showbiz, so as one band pulls out, another'll pull in. We are assured that the Foo Fighters-- who will hopefully perform in front of a huge picture of John Kerry-- are now slated to fill the void left by the commies in Nine Inch Nails, who have been detained for question by the U.S. government.

After they're untied and allowed to put their clothes back on, the Nails will be hitting the road all over again, this time with Interscope buddies Queens of the Stone Age. Unfortunately, that was all we had to work with at press time, but the band's website does estimate a mid-September jump off for the tour and promises a full itinerary soon.

I think Trent needs to get real and see how MTV were never gonna allow him to do this, and just put his pride to one side and play anyway, without the backdrop.
Life is full of compromises. Sometimes you draw the line and say "that is a compromise to far, that contradicts who I am" other times you gotta see that it doesn't really make a fat lotta difference.


The main effect here is that NIN have lost the opportunity to get their music across to a large audience. If removing a backdrop waters down their message a little, not playing at all dries it up completely.


Dontcha think...?

Slash said:

i don't think this is going to hurt NIN and his fans as much as it's going to be a disappointment for people who were gonna tune in to MTV to watch them perform...and i'm sure it's not gonna hurt MTV either, but it's not like they play his videos anyway.

Anxiety said:

Do you think it would've hurt NIN if they HAD compromised and played...?