SLAYER's PAUL BOSTAPH On Confederate Flag Controversy: 'Those Who Forget History Are Bound To Repeat It'

SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph says that the media should concentrate on "a lot worse things" that are "going on in the world" than the ongoing controversy over the Confederate flag.

The Confederate flag's symbolism is the subject of an emotional debate in the South in the aftermath of the massacre of nine blacks by a white gunman in a Charleston, South Carolina church last month.

White supremacist and suspected killer Dylann Roof had been pictured holding the Confederate flag before he allegedly carried out the murders.

While some people see the flag as a divisive symbol of the South's proslavery legacy, supporters insist the flag is a honorable symbol of regional pride, a mark of respect for Southern soldiers who died in the American Civil War.

During an interview with Metal Insider, Bostaph weighed in on the Confederate flag issue. He said: "Well, what do they say? Those who forget history are bound to repeat it. I mean, I'm not into it. It's not my thing to fly that flag. You don't see the Nazi flag flying. That's going to be controversial by me saying that. I'm not saying one is worse than the other, I'm just saying maybe the confederate flag stood for something really good to those who are flying the flag, but then maybe to the majority of people, it does not."

He continued: "Sometimes things in history are going to be questioned and people need to get into an uproar about it. Maybe it educates some people. When controversial things don't happen, you go home flip on the baseball game and go to bed and that's the only thing you do; you aren't really stimulating your brain."

Paul added: "There are a lot worse things going on in the world. That's really the truth. I mean, who gives a shit about Bruce Jenner and a fucking sex change? I could give a flying rat fuck about that. What that does is it numbs my brain and glazes my face over. I'm uninterested. It's the whole mentality: if you want to fucking distract somebody, just flash a glimmering object in their face and they will be, 'ooh I want that,' and really, something fucked up is happening over there. That's the media — not all the media, but that's what we see. People are interested in that bullshit.

"Sometimes all the people want to do is look over their neighbor's fence. Those are the kind of people that care about Bruce Jenner's sex change. You can walk through the supermarket and see the tabloids. Some people pick those up religiously. That's the way some people want to live. Every time something insignificant is happening, there's something more important that is getting way less press. There was some kind of trade embargo signed; I caught wind of it when all of that was happening. It was something very important economically that was happening under the radar, and only the people that were looking for it saw it."