Stars Who Can't Stand Slipknot's Corey Taylor

There are many musicians who can't stand Slipknot, but Corey Taylor appears to draw his own special kind of ire. Opinionated, blunt, and often controversial, the singer never misses the opportunity to weigh in on current topics or other people. In fact, this culminated with the humorous "But what does Corey Taylor think?" meme where fans post this statement in the comments section under music news stories, since Taylor will inevitably provide his input at some point — whether prompted to or not.

The heavy metal superstar possesses the uncanny ability to rub people up the wrong way, and there have been a number of instances where his opinions have created mortal nemeses for life. From his infamous war of words with Machine Gun Kelly over a collaboration that didn't work out to having heat with former Korn drummer David Silveria because he chose to pose for a Calvin Klein advert, Taylor ensures he receives fewer friend requests on Facebook. Although, it's unfair to put all the blame on his shoulders for all the people who don't like him. After all, there are people who take issue with the singer for their own personal reasons, even when he doesn't say anything about them to begin with.

With that said, let's take a look at the well-known stars who would rather lie in a pit of venomous vipers than sit in a room with Taylor for five minutes.

When it comes to musicians who are capable of starting a fight in an empty room, Machine Gun Kelly gives Corey Taylor a run for his money. The man born Colson Baker has had his share of public feuds, so it was only a matter of time until he and Taylor would collide.

The beef sizzled after Taylor appeared on "Cutter's Rockcast" in 2021. He admitted to not being a fan of modern rock bands at all, while also taking a shot at "the artists who failed in one genre and decided to go rock." Taylor smiled and added, "... and I think he knows who he is, but that's another story." Was he talking about MGK? Kelly thought so, since he made a suspicious comment at one of his concerts about being glad he wasn't 50 years old and wearing a mask on stage.

After all the passive aggression, Kelly finally addressed Taylor by name on X (formerly known as Twitter). He claimed that the Slipknot singer contributed to the MGK album "Tickets to My Downfall," but his verse was so bad that it was cut. Taylor replied, whipping out receipts to say he pulled his contribution after a suggestion from MGK on how the vocals should be laid down. MGK retorted again, saying it was because Taylor's vocals were subpar. In the "Life in Pink" documentary, however, Kelly admitted he should have handled the situation differently, but he didn't appreciate how Taylor attacked his success.

Kanye West can't keep his name out of the headlines for too long, even being a part of an elite group of musicians dropped by brands following huge controversy. In 2015, he upset the wider rock 'n' roll community when he performed at Glastonbury and said he was "the greatest living rock star on the planet." One person who took it all too personally was Corey Taylor.

In a recorded message for Music Choice, Taylor sat down in a chair and delivered a message to West. He said, "Kanye, you are not the greatest living rock star of all time. The fact that you had to tell people that kinda says it all. You remind of the guy who brags about p***y; they never get as much as they brag about. Stop it. Stop it."

In 2020, Taylor spoke to Loudwire, and his stance toward West appeared to soften. He expressed his concern for West's mental health issues, especially after West announced his desire to run for president. The Slipknot frontman elaborated on the issues he thought West might have, and hoped he would get help for them before it was too late. In 2022, though, Taylor took aim at West again, criticizing the rapper for the $200 price point and release strategy for his album "Donda 2." As of mid-March 2024, West has yet to respond to any of the barbs; however, it's safe to assume he doesn't appreciate Taylor's inability to stop talking about him.

Chris Fehn's departure from Slipknot shocked the fans. Having been a part of the Iowa metal machine since 1998, the percussionist and backing vocalist hit the bricks in 2019. However, the real reason Fehn left Slipknot raised eyebrows as he filed a lawsuit against the group, claiming he had been cheated out of money owed to him throughout the years. In his filings, Fehn pointed the finger directly at Shawn Crahan and Corey Taylor for the disputes.

In an interview with Vulture, Taylor explained that Slipknot had always operated on an equal footing, saying everyone gets their fair share of the moolah and there was no monkey business taking place behind the scenes. He also brought up the topic of Fehn, saying: "The less I say about Chris, the better, let's put it that way."

Eventually, Fehn dropped the lawsuit against the band and even indicated that he hoped to rejoin Slipknot in the future. While this might have indicated that all matters were resolved between the parties and everyone was pals again, it might not be as clear cut as that. In 2023, Fehn appeared on "Drum for the Song" podcast and discussed his time in the band. "The fans really were the only part that was great for me," he said. "That stage performance and seeing them and seeing their reaction was the best part. The rest of it can f*** off." Fehn also expressed how he had no desire to ever tour again.

Slipknot might have taken masked metal to the mainstream, but they weren't the first band to use this gimmick by any means. Before the Iowa group was even a concept, the costumed GWAR ran wild and delighted fans with their unique brand of intergalactic brutal jams. In many ways, GWAR paved the road that allowed Slipknot to headbang their way to success.

In 2002, Corey Taylor posted on Slipknot's now-deleted message board (via MTV News) to address fans about the tumultuous state of his band, but he couldn't help but throw strays at GWAR in the process. The singer said the band would hang up their masks and overalls before they lost relevancy like GWAR had. In a follow-up message, Taylor suggested he was a fan of GWAR, but he was only stating facts about their position on the music totem pole.

GWAR's frontman Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus, released a lengthy written statement on January 1, 2003, where he laid into Taylor and Slipknot for daring to insult the group. In one section, he wrote: "People will eternally remember you as the scary clowns who had the lead singer that whined like a little b***h every time he got in print." A few years later, it was clear that Brockie hadn't forgotten what Taylor had said about his band. He brought up the Slipknot singer to FHM, especially Taylor's complaints about how hot he got in his on-stage gear, and called him "a big whiner."

After dominating the music world with Slipknot and Stone Sour, Corey Taylor decided to branch out and also find time for his own solo projects. Expectedly, he wasn't a one-man show who played every instrument on stage, so Taylor recorded music and went on tour with other musicians — such as bassist Jason Christopher.

It wasn't widely publicized at the time, but Christopher was fired from Taylor's band in 2021. In 2023, Christopher opened up about what led to his departure on his Facebook page. The musician explained how he informed Taylor in August 2021 that he had COVID-19 and would miss the start of the tour. However, since they had rehearsal the day before, Taylor reacted angrily to the fact Christopher showed up at practice knowingly sick. While Christopher explained that he was vaccinated and he didn't know he had COVID, he apologized to Taylor, nonetheless.

Afterward, Christopher claimed he was ostracized. "Corey, and his entire camp shut me out." he wrote. "It wasn't long after that I started to get wind of some people saying I was a Trump supporter, had a fake vaxx card, and tons of other awesome s*** like that." Furthermore, Christopher claimed he was blackballed from the music industry, before concluding that most of the music he did with Taylor was "absolute garbage." In a now-deleted Instagram post (via 105.7 The Point), Taylor's wife, Alicia, claimed Christopher was fired for failing to respect the testing protocols — not because he had COVID.

As one of the most important rock bands of the 1990s, Korn received attention from beyond the music press. Opportunities presented themselves for the band to cross over into other unexpected areas as well, such as modeling. The heavy metal community can be iffy about this type of thing, though, and there were more than a few groans and face palms when Korn's then-drummer, David Silveria, posed shirtless for a Calvin Klein ad.

One person who was incensed by Silveria's decision to work with the global fashion brand was Corey Taylor. In a conversation with Spin in 2000, Taylor raged, "I was pissed off like a motherf***er when I saw this." During the interview, the singer proceeded to burn the magazine that featured the ad and proclaimed, "People like that are destroying music!" In an interview with Kerrang (via "Slipknot: Inside The Sickness, Behind The Masks"), Korn's vocalist, Jonathan Davis, admitted that even Silveria's own band had an issue with him doing the advert. He added that there was no beef between Korn and Slipknot, though there certainly was lingering tension between Silveria and Slipknot.

In 2015, a fan sent Taylor a screenshot on X (formerly known as Twitter), purporting to be a comment from Silveria about how he dealt with Taylor's jibes in the press. In the message, Silveria claimed to have seen Taylor at a music festival and threatened him with physical violence if he ever spoke negatively about him again. Taylor denied this event ever occurred.

When Justin Bieber hit the height of his popularity in the 2010s, it became an online sport to dunk on him. Whatever the Biebs did, no matter how inconsequential or minor it was, the knives were sharpened for him and he would be roasted. Surprisingly, Corey Taylor wasn't one of these people — well, not initially at least.

In a 2012 interview with Revolver, Taylor praised Bieber's natural ability and admitted he had tried to arrange a collaboration with the singer to perform the internet-created mash-up "Psychosocial Baby." According to Taylor, the Biebs was visiting children's hospitals that day and was unavailable. Taylor's love and appreciation for Bieber appeared to dissipate by 2015, though. During a Rolling Stone interview, the reporter mentioned how the Slipknot singer used to be a fan of Bieber's music. Taylor replied with: "Yeah, until he started becoming a f****** caricature of a spoiled brat."

In 2017, Taylor lashed out at Biebs again. He took umbrage with the fact that the "Never Say Never" singer was using metal imagery for his own t-shirt line when he wasn't a true metalhead. To date, Bieber hasn't responded to any of Taylor's comments about him, but it seems unlikely fans will ever see the dream duet of "Psychosocial Baby" anytime soon.

Even though Slipknot might have its own controversies, they still can't hold a candle to the drama that American death metal band Deicide brings. Proudly anti-Christian in its music and attitude, vocalist/bassist Glen Benton has burnt an inverted cross onto his forehead at several points throughout his career to leave no one guessing what his beliefs are. As a result, Deicide isn't exactly the first band that would be invited to perform on a morning talk show.

That said, the group has inspired a plethora of other metal bands. Speaking on the "Talk Toomey" podcast in 2016, Benton explained how he was told by Slipknot themselves that Deicide was one of their biggest inspirations back in the day. However, the vocalist exploded into a profanity laced tirade against Slipknot and Corey Taylor when recalling how they had promised to take Deicide on a tour but it never materialized. "Yeah, blow me," Benton said. "That's what I say to you. F****** blow me, Corey Taylor and all you f***."

Addressing Benton's comments in a statement to Loudwire, Taylor said: "Out of respect to Glen and Deicide, I honestly don't remember making a promise like that. I'm not saying someone else in the band didn't say it. All I know is I didn't. Being the singer I guess I'll be the target." He added how Slipknot accepts band submissions for their tours, but he had never seen Deicide's name come up.

Donald Trump's stint in the White House proved to be nothing short of controversial, even seeing him considered one of the worst U.S. presidents, according to historians, but also as the greatest by his zealous supporter base. Needless to say, numerous celebrities, public figures, and world leaders all weighed in about his divisive approach to politics and societal issues throughout his time in office. Someone who is certainly not getting in line to buy a "Make America Great Again" hat is Corey Taylor. In fact, Taylor even dedicated over 30% of his book "America 51" to going after Trump and criticizing America under his presidency.

In 2017, Taylor told Rolling Stone: "It is embarrassing that he is the 'leader of the free world.' I will never give him the qualification for that s***. He can't go away fast enough." Taylor pulled no punches in his scathing assessment of Trump as a president, even going after the people who voted for him in the first place. Then, in a 2019 interview with Fader, Taylor spoke about Trump again, explaining how he restarted his book "America 51" twice because of everything that was happening in America at the time. Again, he criticized Trump and his supporters, stating that they had set back the country by two decades by allowing him into power. 

Trump hasn't responded to Taylor's comments about him, but considering his general reaction to detractors, he's unlikely to be in the golden circle area at the next Slipknot show.

For many years, Nickelback was the most hated band in the music industry. Consequently, it became tough for them to keep track of all the haters, as appeared to be the case when frontman Chad Kroeger appeared on the "Metal Covenant" podcast.

"Corey Taylor has said some really nasty things about me before in the press," Kroeger said. "He talks about how easy it is to write a hit song. Well, show me. Show me. Write one." The Nickelback singer went on to call Slipknot a gimmick band and suggested Taylor only indulged in Stone Sour because he wanted people to see what he looked like without a mask.

Taylor denied ever saying writing hit songs were easy. "I've never said it was easy to write hit songs," Taylor told 98KUPD. "I don't know what the hell planet he's living on. Apparently it's planet Kroeger because there must be good weed there because he's an idiot." Taylor also couldn't help but lay in another insult by pointing out he was voted the sexiest man in rock while wearing a mask, whereas Kroeger was voted the ugliest twice.