Metal fans were in mourning last week at the shock news that Slayer guitarist and co-founder Jeff Hanneman had died aged 49 of liver failure.

While tributes and obituaries poured in from the music world from fans and musos alike for the influential thrash metal axeman, another group has taken a far more controversial stance to Hanneman’s passing.

As The Huffington Post reports, the Westboro Baptist Church left no time for the dead to rest in peace, taking to social media shortly after Friday’s announcement with a tweet that insinuated the picketing of funerals for the Slayer guitarist and the recently deceased Chris Kelly of Kriss Kross, the hip hop duo best known for 90s hit ‘Jump’.


The extremist religious collective are well known for exploiting sensitive topics as a platform for their ’cause’, essentially highlighting the will of God against the supposed evils of homosexuals and heathen alike, and its not the first time that they’ve sunk to picketing a funeral to broadcast their message.

The Westboro Baptist Church were present at the funeral for legendary metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio in June 2010. Fellow Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne was among the musical mourners at the Hall of Liberty memorial service in Los Angeles for Dio, and as Blabbermouth points out, told a local radio show: “I thought it was in such bad taste that those people had those banners about Ronnie James Dio. That’s disgusting. They say that we’re the anti-christ. Well, what makes them any better?”

It didn’t take long for the news of Westboro Baptist Church’s intentions to picket Jeff Hanneman’s funeral to go viral, and fans to begin firing back at the group.

In a more fittingly respectful tribute, Slayer have updated their official website with a memorial for their fallen guitarist, including the official statement they issued last Thursday following Hanneman’s passing.

Slayer is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11AM this morning near his Southern California home. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed.

Our Brother Jeff Hanneman, May He Rest In Peace (1964 – 2013)”

Hanneman, who co-founded Slayer, one of metal’s ‘Big Four’, with Kerry King in 1981, had suffered serious health issues following a spider bite on his arm in early 2011, contracting a nasty flesh-eating disease called necrotizing fasciitis. An open letter to fans posted on Slayer’s official website described Hanneman’s gruelling surgery and health issues, while Exodus guitarist Gary Holt continued to fill in for Hanneman as he underwent extensive rehabilitation.

The guitarist’s sudden passing came as a major shock to both the band and fans as well, who had assumed that Hanneman was on the road to recovery, while tributes to the fallen guitarist began pouring in from fellow musical legends such as Anthrax, Slash, and Pantera.

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