Having come under fire for a similar offense once before, Watain guitarist Set Teitan is again facing controversy after a photo of him giving a Nazi salute made the rounds on social media.  Previously, Teitan allegedly made a gesture at a Stockholm concert that some interpreted as the Nazi salute. The band denied this was the case.

Teitan has decided to bow out of the group following this most recent incident, which band member Erik Danielsson stresses was “made in jest,” and as part of a longer statement, berated those that called for Teitan’s stepping down. Danielsson claimed to send a, “heartfelt fuck off to all those who insist on feeding on the mindless moral witch-hunt hysteria that is now festering on worldwide heavy metal culture.”

In January, the band responded to Teitan’s original accusation during a show, proclaiming that they had no ties to Nazi ideology “neither publicly nor personally” and that “‘saluting’ one of our many enemies on the sacred ground that is our stage would not make much sense. That is something we are sure our fans and supporters -who we are proud to say are from every possible ‘race,’ gender, nation and cultural background can testify to.”