ROB ZOMBIE Defends Himself Against 'Sellout' Accusations Over WOOLITE Commercial

Rob Zombie has established himself since 2003 as one of horror's most brutal filmmakers, but his latest project may be his most horrifying yet: The rocker-turned-director recently got behind the camera for a commercial for laundry detergent Woolite. Zombie completed the spot, called "The Torturer", in mid-April and told CP24.com about accusations from the some critics that he has "sold out," "I hadn't even thought about [a fan backlash], it hadn't crossed my mind.

"Whenever anyone talks about selling out it's the most absurd statement anyone could make. I've never done anything I didn't want to do, to me selling out is changing your music, your image, everything based on some sort of corporate manipulation to become rich and famous. I've never done that.

"When someone says I've sold out I say, 'What do you do for a living?' and maybe they'll say, 'Oh, I work at Walmart.' So they're corporate whores for the largest corporation in the world but have the nerve to [call me a] 'sell-out?"'

He added, "I like doing different things, I did an episode of 'CSI: Miami' because I wanted to see what it was like to do a TV show and now a commercial; you want to get these things under your belt.

"The funny thing is a lot of people are like, 'Oh it's so weird that you're doing this' but every single director does it, it's just that they don't usually mention it. I could've easily done that commercial and never said a word and no one would ever know but I thought it was funny so I told people about it."

Zombie also stepped outside his usual kind of work recently to direct a special for Comedy Central titled "Tom Papa: Live In New York City". The special, shot over two days in the Big Apple, stars comedian Tom Papa from NBC's "The Marriage Ref" in his first stand-up special. Zombie said, "Tom and I worked together on my animated film 'The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto' and had a blast. So when Tom asked me to direct his first special, I couldn't refuse. He's a brilliant stand-up comic."

Zombie recently announced that former MARILYN MANSON drummer Ginger Fish has officially joined the current lineup of his band. Fish replaces Joey Jordison, who is leaving to return to his main act SLIPKNOT.

Fans will get to see Fish on the road with Zombie this summer, on a string of North American dates with SLAYER. The trek begins on July 20 in Reading, Pennsylvania, finishing up on August 6 in Seattle.

Following that tour, Zombie will begin shooting his next film as a director, "The Lords Of Salem". The movie follows a 300-year-old coven of witches that wreaks revenge on the inhabitants of modern-day Salem, Massachusetts.