Report: MEGADETH Song Offends Shooting Victim

March 6, 2007

Brendan Kelly and Cassandra Szklarski of The Gazette report that Hayder Kadhim, a student who was shot three times by gunman Kimveer Gill at Dawson College in Montreal, Quebec, Canada last September, is outraged that MEGADETH is set to release a new version of a song that inspired the gunman.

A new recording of "A Tout Le Monde" will be the first single off the heavy-metal's new album, "United Abominations", and will be sent to radio stations this month.

Gill singled out "A Tout le Monde" as one of his favourites in hate-filled online posts that immediately preceded his rampage Sept. 13, when he shot dead student Anastasia De Sousa and injured 20 others. He killed himself after being wounded in a shootout with police.

"For the simple fact that Kimveer Gill was listening to (the song) and he injured students like me and also killed Anastasia, who was a friend of mine, this artist should put this song on the side out of respect to the victims," Kadhim said. "That song triggered Kimveer Gill's actions."

Kadhim, a hip-hop artist, still has fragments of a bullet in his head and another bullet remains lodged in his neck.

If MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine is thinking of capitalizing on the shootings, "I think that's disrespectful to us. I believe respect comes before money," Kadhim said.

Rose Slanic, general manager of Roadrunner Records Canada, which is releasing the MEGADETH album, said the song was recorded prior to the Dawson shooting and is not disrespectful toward the victims.

"From our standpoint," she said "we don't affiliate ourselves with negative things. There's no negative message in the song."

Dawson spokeswoman Donna Varrica was reluctant to condemn MEGADETH for its plans to re-release the song. "It's not in our power to stop anyone from doing what they want to do," she said. "Music is very subjective. You can make something mean anything you want it to mean. What someone thinks is a gift might not be a gift to someone else.

"Would I buy it? No."

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