Trivium singer-guitarist Matt Heafy is clearly Team Slipknot when it comes to the masked band’s current feud with Machine Gun Kelly. In a series of tweets, the metal frontman said MGK was nothing more than a pop-punk cosplayer, while also giving him the new nickname “Squirt Gun Smelly.”
Earlier this month, Machine Gun Kelly insulted Slipknot onstage at Riot Fest, exclaiming from the stage, “You all want to know what I’m happy that I’m not doing? Being 50 years old wearing a f**king weird mask on the f**king stage.”
Heafy played off MGK’s words, tweeting on Sunday, “I’d like to formally diss Machine Gun Kelly for ‘being 31 years old wearing a f**king 16 year old pop punk cosplay identity on a f**king stage.'” He then followed up with a simple “Squirt Gun Smelly” tweet.
In a follow-up comment, Heafy wrote, “I never thought about him till he took a shot at Slipknot — who are a band who’s paved the way for bands like mine. Thousands of bands like mine. Squirt Gun is a clout chaser. And even though it’s all a PR stunt, a shot at Slipknot needs an addressing.”
Hours later, Heafy sarcastically tweeted, “I’d like to publicly apologize for my tasteless comments about MGK. I just found out he’s been afflicted by the Ligma variant. It’s really getting real out there. Thoughts and prayers homie.”
Heafy is a big gamer, and “Ligma” is a made-up disease that was said to have killed popular Fortnite streamer Ninja in an online hoax. There was also another hoax that claimed that MGK died of “Ligma” in 2018, during his feud with Eminem.
Meanwhile, Machine Gun Kelly also caught the ire of hard rock and metal fans at this past weekend’s Louder Than Life festival. Not only was he booed throughout his performance, a couple fans jumped the barricade to charge at him, with MGK throwing a wild punch at one of them.
As for the genesis of the feud between MGK and Slipknot, Corey Taylor seemingly threw shade at MGK’s transition from rapper to pop-punk singer in an interview earlier this year. But it went deeper than that, with both Machine Gun Kelly and Taylor revealing that the Slipknot singer was supposed to guest on MGK’s album in a pair of dueling post-Riot Fest tweets.
See Trivium frontman Matt Heafy’s series of tweets about Machine Gun Kelly below.
Squirt Gun Smelly
Advertisement— Matthew kiichichaos Heafy (@matthewkheafy) September 26, 2021
I never thought about him till he took a shot at Slipknot – who are a band who’s paved the way for bands like mine. Thousands of bands like mine. Squirt Gun is a clout chaser. And even though it’s all a PR stunt, a shot at SK needs an addressing. (But that cover sounds awful 😂)
— Matthew kiichichaos Heafy (@matthewkheafy) September 26, 2021
I’d like to publicly apologize for my tasteless comments about MGK. I just found out he’s been afflicted by the Ligma variant. It’s really getting real out there. Thoughts and prayers homie.
Streams: 215pm warm up | 630 central jam | 7pm central show | https://t.co/YgoiEcsxT0 pic.twitter.com/unOBWVBrch
Advertisement— Matthew kiichichaos Heafy (@matthewkheafy) September 26, 2021
