Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider Condemns ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ Message from Anti-Maskers
Twisted Sister front man Dee Snider took to social media to condemn a group of anti-maskers who stormed into a Florida Target store singing his band’s 1984 hit, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”. He posted a tweet calling the stunt “moronic” along side a video of an upset customer recorded inside the store which is located in the Coral Ridge Mall in Fort Lauderdale. The video had more then 30 million views.
The statement quotes Snider as saying the group does not have his “permission or blessing to use my song for their moronic cause”.
Broward County officials were quick to arrive at the scene after receiving word of the protest. Target was fined for not enforcing the county’s mask laws and the protestors were fined as well.
According to Fort Lauderdale resident Chris Nelson, the flash mob was organized by his group Reopen South Florida. He also posted a video of the stunt on YouTube along with the caption, “In celebration of Burn Your Mask Day we decided to spread some freedom dust over the shoppers and employees of Target!”
In the video, protestors were heard to say “We’re Americans, breathe.” “It’s a lie”. One woman approached a customer wearing a mask and told her to take it off saying, “You don’t need it.” Groups cheered whenever guests complied in taking off their masks.
This is not the first time Nelson and his group have been involved in anti-mask protests. Despite CDC officials begging the public to wear masks saying they could be more effective than a vaccine, Nelson soldiers on with his cause. He previously staged a protest against beach closures on the Fourth of July. He was present at a Broward County news conference where he shouted about restrictions being an intrusion on citizen’s Fourth Amendment rights.
Police asked him to leave saying he was causing a disturbance. He initially resisted but complied after they threatened to handcuff him. All those identified as being unmasked in the video were fined $100. Broward county spokeswoman Margaret Stapleton was quoted as saying, “Any additional participants from the video that are able to be identified will also receive $100 citations in the mail.”
According to police, the Target group was gone when officers arrived. However, they were told that the protestors entered the store with their masks on. Reportedly, they were asked to leave, “after they removed their masks and became disruptive and rude to other shoppers”.
Nelson followed up saying he will continue to use the Twisted Sister song despite Snider’s warnings. He states, “It’s a great anthem about freedom and overcoming oppression.”
