Machine Gun Kelly directed a few barbed comments at Slipknot during their competing headline sets at Riot Fest in Chicago on Sunday, September 19th.

Riot Festival 2021 saw Slipknot take to the main stage for an 8:30 headlining set — following performances from the likes of Devo, Body Count, and Health — with Machine Gun Kelly performing on the Radical Stage at the same time.

During MGK’s set, the 31-year-old rapper-turned-pop-punker took a moment to take a few shots at Slipknot.

“Hey, you want to know what I’m really happy that I’m not doing? Being 50 years old wearing a fucking weird mask on a fucking stage, talking shit,” he can be heard saying in fan-captured footage.

After a brief pause, MGK swerved the subject, adding, “So, anyway, what’s everyone’s favorite candy? Reece’s Pieces?”

Elsewhere during the set, the rapper slipped in another sly dig at Slipknot, saying, “Turn the lights up. Let me see who chose to be here instead of with all the old weird dudes with masks.”

Machine Gun Kelly’s ire towards the masked metal titans likely stems from an interview Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor gave to Cutter’s Rockcast, back in February. Which saw Taylor lament the state of rock music, whilst seemingly taking an oblique stab at MGK’s genre-hopping.

“I hate all new rock for the most part. Well, the ‘artists’ who failed in one genre and decided to go rock — I think he knows who he is. But that’s another story.”

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