System of a Down's drummer says movement to defund police is "the stupidest thing that I’ve heard"

June 8, 2020

It’s been two weeks since George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police, and after over a week of widespread protesting, a veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council voted to “dismantle” the city’s police department; one answer to numerous calls to defund police made over the past week. System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan, who recently called Donald Trump “the most attacked president in history yet the greatest friend to minorities!,” also has a response to the idea of doing away with police, and as you might expect, it’s in line with his right-wing political views that put him so at odds with frontman Serj Tankian.

Metal Sucks points out that in a new fourteen-minute video posted over the weekend John says it “shouldn’t be a shock to anybody” that his views differ from Serj’s, “But you’d be surprised at how civil our conversations are.”

Regarding police, he continues:

I think that the movement to defund police is probably the stupidest thing that I’ve heard. Any celebrity or politician who is behind the defund the police movement is doing one of two things 1. Showing you, who they consider the peasant class, how woke they are and how in tune they are with social injustice. In other words look like they give a shit but continue to live lavish well protected lives while you bang your head on a wall. 2. (Mainly politicians) Say anything to maintain their positions because the stupidity of defunding the police hasn’t fully been comprehended by the people advocating for it, they will cut budgets to show how they agree with the ‘movement’ and move the money into social programs, later once people have forgotten about this injustice and are on to the next issue they will cut funds to those programs and funnel the money right back into police department budgets. In fact they will increase those budgets because at the end of the day there can be no society without them, we are not civilized enough and probably never will be. You are being agitated into a frenzy, divided, and then placated. No real changes will be instituted except that many of you will be even more dependent on the government you so adamantly oppose. They take away your freedoms give you a few scraps and you thank them for it, wake up and think for yourself.

Watch the full video below.

System of a Down’s Los Angeles shows with Korn, Faith No More, Helmet, and Russian Circles have been postponed to 2021, and now the majority of their European dates have been cancelled. They write:

To all our fans, System Of A Down thanks you for your patience and understanding throughout this COVID-19 pandemic.

As you know, our scheduled tour dates for 2020 were forced to change due to the global crisis and we have been working with our promoters and local governments to collectively create a safe environment going forward. With that being said, we are rescheduling our tour for the summer of 2021. Due to circumstances that are out of our control, this has regrettably led to the cancellation of some of our headline shows that were planned for this year. Though this is disappointing for our fans and for us, we hope to revisit these cities along with many more in the future. The shows affected are listed below.

Cancelled:
03.06.2020 – Amsterdam @ Ziggo Dome: http://saveyourticket.nl/#info
08.06.2020 – Berlin @ Waldbühne: bit.ly/eventimrefund / bit.ly/ticketmasterrefund
16.06.2020 – Prague @ 02 Arena: http://ticketportal.cz / help.ticketmaster.cz/hc/cs/requests/new
17.06.2020 – Budapest @ László Papp Sport Arena: Contact point of purchase
23.06.2020 – Stockholm @ Ericsson Globe: axs.com/se
30.06.2020 – Kraków @ Tauron Arena: Contact point of purchase

We are pleased to announce the rescheduled date for our 19.06.20 Zürich show, which is now 8th June, 2021 at Hallenstadion. Existing tickets are valid for the rescheduled show.

We are also looking forward to playing some European festivals in June 2021. Those festivals will be announcing their line-ups soon, so please keep an eye on all of our social channels for more information.

Meanwhile, after continuing to defend them in the face of days of violence, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed to cut funding from the NYPD, and Democrats in the Senate have revealed new legislation focused on police reform.

From NPR:

The Democratic proposal, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, has more than 200 sponsors and marks one of the most comprehensive efforts in modern times to overhaul the way police do their jobs.

It would prohibit the use of chokeholds, lower legal standards to pursue criminal and civil penalties for police misconduct, and ban no-knock warrants in drug-related cases. The plan would also create a national registry to track police misconduct.

“We can’t settle for anything other than transformative structural change,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said on Monday while flanked by the bill’s authors gathered to introduce the legislation. “True justice can only be achieved with full, comprehensive action, that is what we are doing today. This is a first step; there is more to come.”