Arguably the most successful rock performer raised in Western Mass (Longmeadow) went on a 9-minute antigovernment, anti-vax, pro-Putin rant on Friday.  Aaron Lewis performing solo on the stage of the 1,000-seat Vern Riffe Center in Portsmouth Ohio served as a mouthpiece for the rightwing conspiracy theory movement.

Western Mass Star Makes Pro-Putin Comments During Performance

Lewis’ profanity-laced diatribe called the U.S. “the most corrupt country in the world.”  Lewis went on to blame the media, the internet, and the people that control it and said “everything, is against us in this room…everything.”  The crowd was often uncomfortably silent during the rant with some scattered yeas and woos.

Aaron Lewis Pro-Putin Comments During Concert Last Friday

Lewis certainly has the right to feel and express whatever he would like on whatever platform he wishes.  He is on a long solo tour and probably spends a portion of each show expressing his views through the spoken word and not the hit songs the audience no doubt paid money to see.

In the video shot by an audience member and posted to YouTube, most of Lewis’s conspiracy content was nothing we haven’t heard before.  Lewis did hit a low note on the topic of Ukraine.  He asked out loud “Why are they trying to protect Ukraine so much”…” it’s all bullshit, it’s all bullshit”.  He went on to build on his fake war premise talking about wooden guns and body bags that move.

 Arron Lewis: "Maybe we should listen to what Vladimir Putin is saying"

Lewis could not sound more out of touch with the mainstream when he said “As fucked up as it sounds, maybe we should listen to what Vladimir Putin is saying.”  He later went on to say that Putin is fighting the Deep State the same people we are fighting adding it’s a fight for “freedom.”   The audience of close to 1,000 were silent except for one man's positive outburst of support for his pro-Putin comments.  Keep in mind these comments were made last Friday and not months before Putin's slaughter of innocent men, women, and children in Ukraine.

(Profanity)

Aaron Lewis gained popularity in 2001 fronting the band Staind. The songs “Outside” and “It’s Been a While” from the album “Break the Cycle” put Staind on the global map as they grew from a local Springfield Mass band to one of the most popular rock bands of the decade.  When the rock scene shifted and Staind’s sound was no longer as profitable Lewis pulled a Darius Rucker in 2010 and dumped the band and rebranded himself into a solo country singer.  Over the years Staind has regrouped to perform at festivals and short co-headlining tours.  Lewis spends most of his days touring solo performing both Staind hits and his country material.

Lewis’ Western Mass home in Worthington has been on the market for well over a year.  With a price tag of close to $3-million, there have not been any takers on the property that was also once owned by one of the creators of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”  Perhaps when the dust settles and the sanctions are lifted a Russian oligarch might be interested in a mansion in western Massachusetts.

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