Ex-SCORPIONS Drummer JAMES KOTTAK Is A Climate Change Skeptic: 'It's All B.S.,' He Says

Former SCORPIONS and current KINGDOM COME drummer James Kottak has outed himself as a climate change skeptic.

Apparently responding to news reports that millions of people were expected to walk out of school and work on Friday, kicking off a week of protests calling for action to combat climate change, Kottak took to his Twitter on Thursday (September 19) to voice his views on the subject.

He wrote in a series of tweets: "Climate Change my ass... It is all B S

"So call India and China and call them out...Democrats just go away . We account for 1% of the worlds pollution. Get off your planes dems...dumbs

"Tell me when one time you have seen 'killed from climate change' or 'death from second hand smoke' appeared on a gravestone....and I am a total anti smoker... it's all b s"

This past July, Kottak raised eyebrows when he tweeted that "anyone against America is a socialist communist asshole."

The unusual Independence Day greetings came after the musician wished his 18 thousand followers a happy holiday on Twitter.

"Happy Fourth.... Trump rules!" the 56-year-old musician wrote, adding in a separate tweet: "Any one against America is a socialist communist a hole . Happy fourth"

In June, Kottak, who calls himself a "news political junkie" on Twitter, made BLABBERMOUTH.NETheadlines when he said that America should take care of its "homeless problem" before accepting any more "outsiders."

A day earlier, Kottak expressed his dissatisfaction over the fact the first night of the first Democratic presidential debate did not include any discussion of the homelessness problem in the U.S.

Kottak has spent much of the last year touring with the reunited KINGDOM COME, also featuring guitarists Danny Stag and Rick Steier, bassist Johnny B. Frank and singer Keith St. John (formerly of MONTROSE and LYNCH MOB).

In September 2016, Kottak was dismissed from SCORPIONS during his well-publicized battle with alcoholism and was replaced by former MOTÖRHEAD member Mikkey Dee.

SCORPIONS guitarist Matthias Jabs later said that he and his bandmates "had to make" the decision to fire Kottak, explaining that they gave the drummer "all the chances" to get better. "We reached the point — or he reached the point — where it was just not worth it," Jabs said.

Back in December 2017, SCORPIONS singer Klaus Meine slammed Donald Trump's plan to build "a great wall" along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that the current U.S. president's immigration policy is "like the clock ticking backwards."

Last fall, Kottak told Detroit's 101 WRIF radio station that his recovery was "a work in progress." He explained: "Over the last 10 years, I would say I was 90 percent sober, and then I'd have these struggles and I'd go through a bad two- or three-week period. So right now it's, like I said, to use a cliché, it's one day at a time and I work the program. I still go out, and if you wanna drink a bottle of Jack in front of me, go for it — [it's] no big deal — but it is, like I said, a work in progress."