Ex Iced Earth vocalist Stu Block has spoken about his former bandmate, Jon Schaffer’s, involvement in storming the US Capitol earlier this year, saying “he fucked up real bad”.
“We all make bad decisions, man, and he [Jon] fucked up real bad. And I’m sure he knows it, and I think everybody with half a brain knows it,” Block said while appearing on The Metal Voice,
Block continued, “The line that was crossed with going in and all that kind of stuff… He had so much going on. It was a shame.”
On January 6th, 2021, a group of Pro-Trump members stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to protest against Trump’s defeat as US president. Schaffer was photographed at the riot. On January 17th he was arrested for his involvement.
Schaffer was originally charged with six crimes in relation to the Capitol riot, and he has pleaded guilty to two. The two charges he pleaded guilty to are obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress; and trespassing on restricted grounds of the Capitol while armed with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
The musician admitted to carrying bear spray into the Capitol, as he and others stormed the building.
Despite, Scaffer’s involvement in the violent attack on the Capitol, Block has said that rather than hating his former bandmate, he feels sad about that situation.
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“At the end of the day, I don’t hate him. I’m not writhing in hate for him. I feel sad. I feel bad that everything went down the way it did. And maybe one day we’ll talk.
“I don’t know. I’m not too sure. But I think he knows that I still have a place in my heart for him because I’ve seen that man do a lot of amazing, wonderful things for people. But I just wanna move on. And that’s what it is.”
Following the incident, Stu Block issued a statement on behalf of Iced Earth saying that they “do not condone” the riots.
“Some of you have been concerned by our silence, which we understand. We needed some time to properly process the information and find out some facts before we made a statement. First and foremost we absolutely DO NOT condone nor do we support riots or the acts of violence that the rioters were involved in on January 6th at the US Capitol building. We hope that all those involved that day are brought to justice to be investigated and answer for their actions,” Block posted on his personal Instagram account.
On February 15th, 2021, Block, bassist Luke Appleton and guitarist Jake Dreyer all resigned from the band. As of now the only remaining members of Iced Earth are Jon Schaffer and drummer Brent Smedley.
For more on this topic follow the Metal Observer.
