The Rage Against the Machine guitarist and political activist is accused of 'white privilege' after saying he and the right-wing rocker are still friends despite their different political beliefs.
- Mar 5, 2021
AceShowbiz - Tom Morello has set things straight about his ethnicity. The Rage Against the Machine guitarist has reminded everyone that he's not white after he was accused of "white privilege" due to his friendship with right-wing rocker Ted Nugent.
"I'm not white," Tom simply tweeted on Wednesday, March 3 in response to a user who wrote in a now-deleted tweet, "Tom Morello's white man privilege is showing." The New York City native was in fact born to an American mother, Mary, who is of Irish and Italian descent, while his father, Ngethe Njoroge, is a Kenyan diplomat who served as the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in the 1970s.
Critics, however, were not buying Tom's excuse. One of them responded to the 56-year-old musician's tweet, "Idk, being friends with Ted Nugent is pretty fricken white my dude." Another similarly pointed out, "Yeah, but this relationship dynamic is really white, my guy. And it doesn't help that you're racially ambiguous, brother."
"Not sure why you would want to be friends with someone who is entirely antithetical to social justice so much they falsely blame those fighting for social justice for leading an attempted insurection," a third person explained the objection to Tom's friendship with Ted.
Another person shared how she deals with people who have different political beliefs, "I'm left. I have family that I don't deal with anymore because of their being Trump supporters. I don't know how to see past the racism (or how they ignore it), feeling like healthcare is a human right, and the whole 'f**k your feelings' debacle of the last 4 years."
There were a few, however, who disagreed with the critics. Believing that people with different views in politics can still be friends, one commented on the debate, "It's crazy how many people can't see past politics and find common ground with people. Some of my best friends are on the right, and I'm about as left as it comes."
Another added, "My best friend is a rightie & I'm extreme left.I guess that makes me a bad person even tho my friend has always treated *everyone* with the utmost of respect & has friends of every race.Calling out white priviledge absolutely has its place,but sometimes being used inappropriately."
Tom came under fire after detailing his friendship with Ted, which began when he was asked to take part in a video tribute for the latter's 60th birthday. "At the time, the Ted Nugent which was sort of known in the world in general was this kind of more right-wing caricature - people were not thinking of him, first and foremost, as the guy who shredded on 'Stranglehold'. But then I had to think, 'What is the video that I'm going to make for Ted's birthday?' " he said during a recent appearance on "The Howard Stern Show".
He continued, "And I put some thought into it, and I said, 'It's gonna be about two things. One, it’s gonna be things that Tom Morello and Ted Nugent have in common,' and I went down this long list of [things like] free-speech advocates, our love of rock 'n' roll, our respect for black artists who created rock 'n' roll. And then the second was things that Ted Nugent taught an adolescent Tom Morello about sex."
"Anyway, so Ted called me up after that," Tom, who played as a member of Audioslave after Rage Against the Machine disbanded in 2000, said. "And while we certainly have differences, I consider him a friend."
