Serj Tankian slams Imagine Dragons for playing controversial Azerbaijan gig: “I don’t respect them as human beings”

Serj Tankian has criticised Imagine Dragons for going ahead with their controversial gig in Azerbaijan, stating that he has “zero respect for those guys”.

READ MORE: System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian: “We are not living in a just world” 

The dispute came over a show that Imagine Dragons had plans for in the country’s capital city, Baku, which some perceived as being an endorsement of Azerbeijan’s authoritarian President Ilham Aliyev.

Last summer, the System Of A Down frontman reached out to the band and wrote them a “kind” personal letter, urging them to pull out of the Baku Olympic Stadium show. In the letter, he stated that proceeding with the gig “would help whitewash the dictatorial regime’s image” (via Louder).

“I really feel that performing in Azerbaijan would have a negative impact on your brand as well,” his letter added, also making a nod towards a news report which stated that the country was preparing genocide against ethnic Armenians in its Nagorno-Karabakh region. “I’m confident that you can decipher all the facts for yourselves to decide whether to cancel your concert.”

Further pressure to back out also came from fellow musicians including Brian Eno, Thurston Moore and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, who shared an open letter last August, asking them to pull the show. “Performing in Baku under these circumstances, regardless of intent, can only help the government of Azerbaijan cover up its crimes,” a section of it read.

Tankian also called the band out on social media for having a “disregard for this humanitarian catastrophe”, following the members not acknowledging his plea.

Despite the pressures, the Las Vegas pop-rock group went ahead with the gig as planned and, in a new interview, the ‘Toxicity’ singer has once again criticised the members.

“Look, I’m not a judge for people to tell bands where to play, or where not to play… I get that they’re doing it for money, that they’re artists, that they’re entertaining, all of that,” he told Metal Hammer.

“But when there’s a government that’s about to commit ethnic cleansing, when Azerbaijan was starving the 120,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, and not allowing any food or medicine in… you know, as an artist, if I found that out, there is no fucking way I could have gone and played that show. But some artists do. And I don’t know what to say about those artists. I don’t respect them as human beings. Fuck their art, they’re not good human beings, as far as I’m concerned.”

He continued: “If you are that blind to justice that you will go play a show in a country that’s starving another country, illegally, according to the International Court of Justice, according to what Amnesty International is saying, what Human Rights Watch is saying… If you still go and play that country, I don’t know what to say about you as a fucking human being. I don’t even care about your music. If you’re a bad human being, I don’t give a fuck. So that’s where I’m at with that. I have zero respect for those guys.”

Tankian also added that he wasn’t frustrated because of his “ego”, but rather because he “wanted to make positive change” and “was warning them for their own sake, for their own morality.”

Musician Serj Tankian of System of a Down performs on stage. CREDIT: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images

Imagine Dragons have not yet responded to any of the comments made by Tankian, nor shared any statement following the open letter they faced from Eno, Waters and Moore. They did, however, share their outlook on getting involved with politics while performing at the 2023 edition of Reading Festival. As they took to the stage, frontman Dan Reynolds told the crowd “Whatever is burdening you, leave it at the door; politics, religion, leave it” (via Louder).

The interview with Serj Tankian also comes after the System Of A Down vocalist spoke to NME recently and shared his thoughts on the current situation in Palestine, as well as the movement to boycott companies with ties to Israel.

“It’s important for the youth to raise their voice, because we are not living in a just world,” he said. “I think in some cases, pure activism is taken hostage by certain fringe elements of society, including in the US – certain anti-Semites who have gotten into that world. However, I think the majority of the activists and their intentions are pure, and I think what they’re doing is important.

He continued: “In terms of the Hamas invasion of Israel, I want to say that was obviously a terrorist act and they are war criminals and deserve to be punished. But, the Netanyahu government’s response is also – as we can see with the number of civilians that have died – a war crime.”

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