<\/p>\n
Tom Morello discussed the inherently political nature of his directorial debut \u201cThe Ballad of Judas Priest\u201d at its Berlin Film Festival press conference, saying that the band is a model for \u201chow we all can do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked to weigh in on the conversation surrounding politics at this year\u2019s Berlinale, Morello said: \u201cWhat a time to be alive, where you can both make a documentary about one of your favorite bands and fight fascism at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
More from Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n After the room erupted in applause, he continued: \u201cThe band\u2019s existence is very political. When I\u2019ve seen Judas Priest over the last decade or so in Los Angeles, the audience is maybe more than 50% Latino, it\u2019s a lot of gay couples. Nothing that has anything to do with any of the stereotypical \u2014 yes, there are some older dudes like myself in leather jackets probably bringing their kids to the show \u2014 but that community and the unity and the harmony that exists at a Judas Priest show, is in some ways a model for how we all can do better.\u201d<\/p>\n The Rage Against the Machine guitarist and political activist is at the Berlinale for the world premiere of the doc, which he co-directed with Sam Dunn. Following the heavy metal pioneers from their working-class origins in England\u2019s Black Country to their recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, the doc \u201cdives deep into vocalist Rob Halford\u2019s long struggle as a closeted gay man in heavy metal, and explores the \u2018culture war\u2019 surrounding the band\u2019s controversial, high-profile trial during the Satanic panic of the 1980s,\u201d according to its synopsis.<\/p>\n Halford was also on hand at the press conference, and added that he can\u2019t help \u201cseeing things in the world that affect me that get me pissed off and thinking, \u2018Is there a way that I can put this in a song?\u2019 And I\u2019ve been doing that forever.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued, \u201cOn the last album, I\u2019m not going to say his name but I talk about that person,\u201d likely referring to U.S. President Donald Trump. \u201cI really have to temper myself, because as I\u2019ve gotten older, I\u2019ve gotten angrier with the world. I\u2019ve gotten angrier with the injustice, particularly for my own people [the LGBTQ+ community], who are still suffering and not given the human rights that they absolutely deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n Morello is famously politically outspoken and has been active in speaking out against the war in Gaza. In May 2021, he signed a boycott of performances in Israel and has openly called for a ceasefire. He has also recently participated in protests against ICE raids in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, holding a \u201cDefend Minnesota\u201d benefit concert last month that included a surprise appearance from Bruce Springsteen.<\/p>\n The Berlin Film Festival has never been a stranger to politics, but this year\u2019s edition has made headlines due to stars\u2019 avoidance of the topic. At the jury press conference that kicked off the festival, president Wim Wenders said artists should \u201cstay out of politics\u201d and celebrities including Michelle Yeoh and Neil Patrick Harris have declined to comment on current events in the U.S., causing social media backlash.<\/p>\n Late Saturday night, festival chief Tricia Tuttle responded<\/a> to the outcry in a statement, saying in part: \u201cArtists are free to exercise their right of free speech in whatever way they choose. Artists should not be expected to comment on all broader debates about a festival\u2019s previous or current practices over which they have no control. Nor should they be expected to speak on every political issue raised to them unless they want to.\u201d<\/p>\n Best of Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tom Morello discussed the inherently political nature of his directorial debut \u201cThe Ballad of Judas Priest\u201d at its Berlin Film Festival press conference, saying that the band is a model for \u201chow we all can do better.\u201d When asked to weigh in on the conversation surrounding politics at this year\u2019s Berlinale, Morello said: \u201cWhat a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2283094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[374079,333341,350954,309864,306369],"class_list":["post-2283093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-berlin-film-festival","tag-directorial-debut","tag-judas-priest","tag-press-conference","tag-tom-morello"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/\u2018What-a-Time-to-Be-Alive-Where-You-Can-Both.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2283093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2283095,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283093\/revisions\/2283095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2283094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2283093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2283093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2283093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}