Former Bad Wolves frontman Tommy Vext is selling new merchandise that doubles down on some of the controversial views that led to his departure from the band, including his anti-vax stance and belief that the race problem in the United States is “all manufactured.” The clothes mainly rely on puns to get his views across, including the labeling of his exit from the band as “Vexit.”
The shirt that directly addresses the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests shows a kid wearing a face mask while holding a sign that says “I can’t breathe” next to the text “This is child abuse.” Vext is saying that the regulation that kids wear a face mask in public to avoid the spread of COVID-19 can be considered child abuse, equating it to the police-instigated murder of George Floyd which started the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
Most of the other shirts stem from anti-vax beliefs. One shows a snake coiled around a syringe with the text, “Don’t shed on me,” in reference to the Gadsden flag and ‘vaccine shedding.’ Vaccine shedding is the belief that vaccinated people can shed the vaccine’s spike protein, in conjunction with the claim that it can cause menstrual cycle irregularities, miscarriages and sterility in women just by being in close proximity to them.
Another reads “Rage against the vaccine” with red fist crushing a syringe, parodying Rage Against the Machine’s logo. There’s also a shirt that draws comparisons between Dr. Fauci and Stalin by replacing a propaganda poster of Stalin holding baby with Fauci holding a mask-wearing kid. The text reads “New world disorder.” There are a few other less specific ‘Vexit’ hats and shirts, including one that states “Fuck cancel culture” and another that reads “We will never bend knee to tyranny.”
Vext has been seen making a lot of fuss over his withdrawal from Bad Wolves and Better Noise Records, as seen by his comment that he’s being “financially bullied” by both parties, his FitCon appearance and his GoFundMe to get his solo career going. He threw some shade on his old band, saying “These fucking clown asshats got some fucking no-name singer, and they’re re-recording the entire new album that I wrote in the studio with my producer during COVID. I recorded three albums last year. And the record label will not allow me to release my music.”
The new singer is The Acacia Strain’s former lead guitarist Daniel “DL” Laskiewicz, and the new album is Dear Monsters, which is set to be released later this year. Bad Wolves publicly lauded DL as a “tremendous songwriter and singer” and stated their belief that Dear Monsters “is the best Bad Wolves album to date.”
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