Carlos Santana faced criticism on Thursday when a video of the musician making anti-transgender comments during a concert in New Jersey in July resurfaced on social media.

“When God made you and me, before we came out of the womb, you know who you are and what you are,” the guitarist is seen saying in the clip.

He continued, “Later on when you grow up, and you see things and you start believing that you could be something that sounds good but you know it ain’t right, because a woman is a woman and a man is a man — that’s it.”

  • Flying Squid
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    7710 months ago

    That’s not something you say and then get away with just because you said you were sorry. That’s a heartfelt statement.

  • themeatbridge
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    5910 months ago

    It’s weird how you can forget a famous person ever existed, but then you find out they are a shitty person and it makes you sad.

    Why do I care that Carlos Santana is a bigot? Abraxas used to be in my car’s tape deck rotation, and he was everywhere in the late 90s, but I haven’t listened to his music in probably over a decade.

    And yet, I find myself really disappointed in him.

  • @[email protected]
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    5810 months ago

    The thing about bigoted statements is you have to take it back, not just feel bad that you said it

    • @[email protected]
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      5110 months ago

      The other thing about them is you can’t really take them back; you’ve revealed yourself. As a queer-positive person, why would I support him when there are so many other artists I could support who don’t have bigoted beliefs?

      Just keep your hate to yourself. It does no good to put it out into the world.

      • angrystego
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        10 months ago

        Well, sometimes people can make statements because they don’t understand. They can realize they were an asshole and change their mind about things. This may or may not be the case. Anyway, I think it’s a good thing that he didn’t double down.

      • @[email protected]
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        410 months ago

        True. Like there’s room to learn and change and be forgiven. But the bad doesn’t disappear.

        Also like seriously it’s a weird time and situation for people like him to come out as publicly transphobic. Like Chappelle fell into it in the way many comedians do, an out of touch old person learning that classic punching bags are now comfortable calling people out. But like if you’d asked me what an old rock star thought of trans people I probably would’ve responded with “not good”. Like I bet his views on lots of things are iffy at best. And like I definitely wasn’t assuming he had any interaction with trans people beyond looking for drugs and prostitutes, given him being an old rock star.

      • @[email protected]
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        10 months ago

        You really apply some kind of ideology test when choosing which artist’s work to enjoy?

        EDIT: Perhaps this hinges on what you mean by “support”

          • @[email protected]
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            110 months ago

            No one is obligated to patronize any business or artist (generally speaking). Obligation isn’t the issue. But it sounds like, yes, you choose not support/patronize artists who have certain opinions you disapprove of.

            I’ve seen this sentiment floating around the Internet sometimes, and it always strikes me as very limiting.

  • Hank
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    5410 months ago

    It’s hilarious that a musician has the urge to say this kind of stuff during a concert. What did he expect? Like I can barely think about another topic where you can piss off so many people with so little effort.

    • realcaseyrollins
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      2310 months ago

      Yeah I don’t get why he’d say this if he didn’t believe it. People are already marginalized for that position. Maybe he thought he’d get clout and support like some recent country singers but according to Wikipedia he does Rock, which has a fair bit of leftist fans if I’m not mistaken.

      • Hank
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        1910 months ago

        Maybe he’s just a dumb old musician surrounded by people who let him believe his opinions are hot shit that has no idea how the real world outside of his utopia operates.

        • @antizero99
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          10 months ago

          This is likely it. Not quite the same thing but similar enough, my wife does the secret shopping for some extra cash and recently did a ton of car shops, one older sales guy told her she was a smart girl because she knew about regenerative braking.

          I’m sure I’ll be attacked for this but I don’t really care about what some people have to say, especially when you account for age and where/when they grew up. Carlos is also old enough that it’s also possible it’s mental decline and he is now saying the quiet part out loud because he can’t filter himself as well anymore.

          We saw Santana a couple of years ago and nothing like this was said or even hinted at. For the record we cringe whenever a band takes time to fellate the military or talk about some other bullshit. If they want to talk about something like mental health, great but most other topics including trans, gay, whatever are not why we are there.

          • @[email protected]
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            110 months ago

            Don’t see Flaming Lips or Cake then. I feel like 20% is talking and it’s super weird. At least the flips show is insane so it kind of makes up for it.

            • @antizero99
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              10 months ago

              I don’t mind the talking, it’s the military worship or other nonsense that bothers me. If they want to talk about a topic that means something to them, it can be okay so long as they don’t go overboard with it.

              We saw mudvayne a few weeks ago and Chad talked about metal being an outlet for him and probably saving his life more than a few times. That’s fine, I also wouldn’t have been bothered by him suggesting people seek professional help or just someone else to talk to when they are feeling off, etc.

              We saw The Offspring with Simple Plan and Sum41 last weekend and no extraneous talking happened. They did pull some new bullshit with kiss cams, booty cams, etc like it was a sporting event and that turned us off, we have seen The Offspring twice before that and they didn’t have any of the extraneous bullshit.

              Oh and to be clear, not caring doesn’t mean it really really bothers me when stupid shit get said. It means that I don’t go ree when someone has what could be a slipup and says something that could possibly be taken out of context.

  • Solivine
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    4710 months ago

    People who need glasses shouldn’t wear them right? That would be messing with how god made you. Might as well not take any drugs for illnesses or you might interrupt god’s plan. /s

    • Flying Squid
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      2110 months ago

      He has a mustache, but shouldn’t he also have a big long beard? He’s going against how his god made him. Why is he shaving off his god-given beard?

    • Endorkend
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      1310 months ago

      I love when erectile dysfunction is brought up whenever these freaks bring up how God made them.

    • xuxebiko
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      910 months ago

      or wear clothes and cook food, because god made you nekkid and food should be eaten as god made it.

  • @[email protected]
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    2710 months ago

    Ugh, stop self-actualizing what you perceive to be someone else’s “kink”, Carlos.

    Being gay or trans ain’t about the bedroom, it’s about everything. It’s not a kink. Love is love.

    Also there is no god, grow the fuck up.

  • Wookie
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    1710 months ago

    Mexicans stopped claiming Santana a long time ago, he’s always been an asshole