Mastodon Piss People Off With Their Thanksgiving T-Shirt

On Thanksgiving day, Mastodon revealed a shirt on their Facebook page that many people considered to be offensive.As you can see, the yellow t-shirt shows a pilgrim with a shotgun aimed at a Native American woman's head as she holds a cooked turkey on a platter. As an Indian woman and fan of Mastodon, I thought this was some great social commentary. Others didn't take so kindly.

Responses to Mastodon's Facebook post included everything from death threats to accusations of racism. The post has since been removed and the t-shirt is no longer available at their official website. I don't know if it's because the shirt was limited edition or because they just didn't want to deal with the negativity.

Mastodon did make an official statement defending their choice to release the t-shirt:

Regarding our thanks giving shirt, whether you choose to believe or not, the American Indians were massacred by the white settlers who became the Americans we are today.

this shirt represents this atrocity and celebrating in the face of this atrocity is chilling.

we may have a sick sense of humor, but we are far from being "Racist" as some of you who might not get it are calling us.

 

Mastodon are currently writing their sixth studio album, in the meantime, 'Mastodon: Live at Brixton' will become available digitally on Dec. 10.