Machine Gun Kelly has certainly had his high moments this year. The rapper-turned-rocker recently performed “Papercuts” with Travis Barker at the 2021 MTV VMAs where he also took home an award for Best Alternative Song thanks to “My Ex’s Best Friend,” MGK’s collaboration with Blackbear. He also announced his sixth album, Born With Horns , which will also be produced by Travis Barker.
With that being said, MGK has also endured his fair share of controversial moments in 2021 and the latest came during his Louder Than Life festival when fans booed and flipped him off during his set. There was seemingly nothing in particular that MGK did during the performance to upset fans, but seeing that the festival is one filled with rockers, this moment could have to do with MGK and Slipknot’s Corey Taylor’s growing beef, which began when Taylor expressed his distaste for MGK.
“I hate everything. I hate all new rock for the most part,” Taylor said. “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.”
MGK shot back and mocked Taylor during his Riot Festival performance.
“Hey, you wanna know what I’m really happy that I’m not doing? Being 50 years old and wearing a f*cking weird mask on a f*cking stage.” MGK later added that Taylor delivered a verse for his Tickets To My Downfall album, but it was left off because “it was f*cking terrible.”
Taylor then returned to deny the singer’s claim and he provided evidence to prove that MGK was wrong. He shared a pair of screenshots that captured a conversation between Barker and Taylor in which the former says he and MGK “love” the song, which turned out to be “Can’t Look Back,” and proposed a few changes to improve the record. In response, Taylor politely steped away from the collaboration, noting that he felt like he wasn’t the “right guy for the track.”
You can watch a video of MGK receiving boos and middle fingers here.
Slipknot is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.