Aaron Lewis Repeats Conservative Conspiracy Theories at Concert
Staind singer and country musician Aaron Lewis used a portion of his solo performances last weekend (April 15–16) at Rivers Casino & Resort Event Center in Schenectady, N.Y., to repeat several conservative conspiracy theories, as fan-captured video shows.
Conspiracy theories he mentioned included popular right-wing talking points such as the Hunter Biden laptop controversy as well as the false belief that Ukraine developed biological weapons with the U.S. government. The musician also espoused anti-vaccine sentiment while presenting a theme of overarching malfeasance from the left, a frequent approach of contemporary conservative pundits.
Watch the video down toward the bottom of this post.
In the clip, Lewis tells the audience, "I can sit here and tell you that the Democrats are responsible for everything. It's bigger than that. This is the people that are above the people that we vote into office."
He continues, "That's why I sit up here every night and put my ass on the line for the truth. Because, people, the truth is fucking important. And when the same group of people monopolize everything, the truth doesn't exist. It's propaganda, it's lies to perpetuate a narrative."
Lewis adds, "Hunter Biden's laptop is real. The fact that we have American money in tax-dollar-funded bio-labs in the Ukraine is real. It's fucking real, people. Stop listening to the bought-and-paid-for propaganda machine. Look elsewhere. Do the opposite of everything they're fucking telling you, because it's all lies — every last bit of it. From getting a [COVID-19 vaccine] booster to supporting the fucking Ukraine, every last bit of it is a fucking lie. Wake up [and] smell the coffee."
Info from a laptop that once seemingly belonged to Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden, was leaked in 2019. The leak was not a Russian plot, according to Vox, but was itself questionable, per The Washington Post. The controversy is related to a wider Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory based on an unfounded allegation that the president engaged in corrupt activities relating to his son's employment with a Ukrainian gas company while he was the VP.
The Ukrainian bio-lab claim is also unfounded, as The New York Times and NPR pointed out. And anti-vaccine rhetoric could be a hard sell for the loved ones of the 6 million people who've died of COVID-19 worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
But these days, most Staind fans are aware Lewis has crafted a parallel persona to the angsty nu-metal frontman who many rock fans grew up with beginning in the '90s. After transitioning to country music for several solo releases, Lewis is now known for his outspoken political views as much as his musicianship.
He's railed against Democrats before and once led a "Fuck Joe Biden" chant. Last weekend, Lewis used his conservative anthem "Am I the Only One" as a centerpiece. The No. 1 hit from his Frayed at Both Ends album abhors Confederate monuments’ removal and criticizes classic rocker Bruce Springsteen.
"I wrote this song 'cause I fucking had to," Lewis says in the video. "As a 50-year-old adult male, I was watching my fucking everything crumble in front of my eyes."