DEE SNIDER: 'Russian People Do Not Know What Their Dictator Leader Is Doing To Ukraine'

Dee Snider has urged all other artists and music fans to use everything at their disposal to combat misinformation with regard to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The TWISTED SISTER frontman said that everyone should do whatever they can to attempt to circumvent state-run Russian media and communicate directly with Russian civilians who might be unaware or unable to access independent or credible news reports.

On Friday, Snider shared a four-and-a-half-minute video message on his Instagram in which he said in part: "Citizens of the free world, it is time to stand up and be counted. There's a phrase I never thought I'd be saying in my lifetime, but here I am today saying those exact words.

"A week ago when I made my post about letting the Ukrainian people use [the TWISTED SISTER song] 'We're Not Gonna Take It' as their battle cry, I was stunned by the international response, the international outpouring. A few death threats, but who cares about that. The main thing is that people stood with the Ukraine. People get what's going on there. People realize the importance of what is happening at this very moment.

"People's lives are on the line," he continued. "People are dying. And this is a threat not just to the Ukraine; this is a threat to the entire free world. As a result of that, a movement has started. WorldUnited.live is not only looking to set up an international live streaming concert event, they're looking to get the message, the word to the Russian people who have been cut off from the rest of the world. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all the social media platforms have been shut down. The Russian people do not know what their dictator leader is doing to the Ukraine; they have no understanding of the truth of what is going on. But they can't stop all of us. We have our URLs, we have our web sites, we have our ways of getting information out there, and if we all start working those angles, if we all start pushing the word out there to the Russian people, if we all spread the word, not just of our support but of the atrocities that are happening in the Ukraine right now, the Russian people will get the message. They are the ones that ultimately are gonna bring this all to an end. Yeah, we've got politicians working; yeah, they're doing all these things to cut back and starve them out over in Russia and do this and do that. I've always found, at the end of the day, it's the people who make things happen."

Snider added: "And to that end, WorldUnited.live — that's the web site: WorldUnited.live — they wanna have a concert event, a major concert event, that crosses all musical barriers, all barricades, brings us all together to send that… Remember Live Aid? This has gotta be the next level if we're gonna stop a potential World War 3, and it is on our shoulders to do just that."

Last month, Snider made headlines when he said he was okay with Ukrainians using "We're Not Gonna Take It" as an act of defiance against the Russian invasion. In a tweet, the singer allowed the use of his song and explained why.

"I absolutely approve of Ukrainians using 'We're Not Gonna Take It' as their battlecry," he wrote. "My grandfather was Ukrainian, before it was swallowed up by the USSR after WW2. This can't happen to these people again!"

Snider sent out the hashtags "F–KRUSSIA" and "F–KPUTIN" in previous tweets and insisted that his grandfather would stand by Dee's remarks if he were alive today.

Dee told "As It Happens" why he's glad Ukrainians have found inspiration in "We're Not Gonna Take It" as they fight a Russian invasion: "It was designed to be a song where people can read their personal strife and struggle, whether it's your teachers or your parents or your government or an invasion — whatever. But then I started to get some people asking me, 'Well, how can you support that, but you know, you denounced the anti-maskers?' I was processing it and I was about to head out the door to get Saturday-morning bagels for my family, and I said, you know: This is why. And I wrote it down. And I came back a couple of hours later and opened up my Twitter feed, and it exploded, and I said: 'Whoa!' I didn't realize I sort of hit the nail on the head. One group are fighting for their lives against oppression and tyranny for real. It's a life and death situation. The other group are screaming that they're being oppressed because they're being asked to wear a piece of paper over their nose and mouth to protect others. It's just so ludicrous, you know? And when you put that kind of perspective on it, it looks embarrassing when you see these true people fighting for their lives, struggling for their lives in the Ukraine, and you get these silly people … stamping their feet like little children."

"We're Not Gonna Take It", the biggest hit single in TWISTED SISTER's career, has been used in commercials for hotel chain Extended Stay America, Claritin, Walmart, Stanley Steamer and Yaz birth control.

The song's lyrics say in part "Oh you're so condescending/Your gall is never ending/We don't want nothin'/Not a thing from you."

"We're Not Gonna Take It" was first released as a single (with B-side song "You Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll") on April 27, 1984. The "Stay Hungry" album was released two weeks later, on May 10, 1984. The single made No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, making it TWISTED SISTER's only Top 40 single, and the song was ranked No. 47 on VH1's "100 Greatest '80s Songs".

"We're Not Gonna Take It" was written solely by Snider. As influences for the song, he previously cited the glam rock band SLADE, the punk band SEX PISTOLS, and the Christmas carol "O Come, All Ye Faithful".

TWISTED SISTER called it quits in 2016 after completing a farewell 40th-anniversary tour. The band's last-ever concert took place in November of that year — 20 months after the passing of TWISTED's longtime drummer A.J. Pero.