Machine Gun Kelly Talks Smack About Slipknot’s ‘Weird’ Masks at Riot Fest

Machine Gun Kelly had some thoughts about Slipknot during his Saturday night (Sept. 18) headlining set at Riot Fest in Chicago, dissing what he called their “weird” masks. While Slipknot took to the main Riot Stage for an 8:30 headlining set — following earlier performances from Devo, Ice-T’s Body Count and Health on the same stage — MGK hopped onto the Radical Stage at the same time.

“Hey you wanna know what I’m really happy that I’m not doing?” the rapper-turned-rocker told the crowd in a video captured by a fan. “Being 50 years old wearing a f—ing weird mask on a f–ing stage. F—ing s—.”

And while the shot taken appeared to be random, Uproxx reported that before the incident, Slipknot singer Corey Taylor appeared on the Cutter’s Rockcast in which he had a dismissive comment that seemed to target MGK.

“And I’m the worst old fogey dude shaking his cane ever,” Taylor, 47, told the hosts during a discussion about new artists whose sound they think are derivative copies of older acts. “I hate everything. I hate all new rock for the most part. I [hate] the artists who failed in one genre and decided to go rock — and I think he knows who he is. But that’s another story.”

The long distance, nameless shot-taking from MGK came a week after the 31-year-old punk-popster almost got into it with Conor McGregor on the MTV VMAs red carpet, where the MMA legend threw a drink at the musician born Colson Baker. The two had to be separated by their entourages.

After releasing four mostly rap-focused albums, MGK achieved his highest charting collection to date with the more pop-punk focused Welcome to My Downfall, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart in September 2020.