Dee Snider, who fronted rock outfit Twisted Sister, says he supports the Ukrainian people using his band’s hit “We’re Not Gonna Take It” as a rallying cry.
The rocker and radio host made his viewpoint clear in a tweet on Sunday, while also addressing why he doesn’t want anti-vaxxers using his anti-authority 1984 hit.
“People are asking me why I endorsed the use of ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ for the Ukrainian people and did not for the anti-maskers. Well, one use is for a righteous battle against oppression; the other is a infantile feet stomping against an inconvenience,” Snider tweeted.
In the past, Snider has been vocal about groups using his song for their purposes. He slammed Paul Ryan in 2012 for using it at a GOP rally.
“I emphatically denounce Paul Ryan’s use of my band Twisted Sister’s song, ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It,’ in any capacity,” Snider said at the time, per Rolling Stone. “There is almost nothing he stands for that I agree with except the use of the (home gym system) P90X.”
And in 2018, he dedicated a performance of the song during “Rocktopia” at the Broadway Theater in New York to striking teachers, per a report from iHeartRadio. He did note, however, that the song has made for an odd pairing with certain campaigns.
“While I totally support underpaid teacher’s cause, it is kind of weird that a song that was on the ‘Filthy 15’ is now every oppressed groups battlecry,” he tweeted at the time.