Machine Gun Kelly has opened up about his public conflict with Slipknot’s Corey Taylor. He frames his harsh responses as justified retaliation for what he describes as disrespect from a legacy artist he once admired.
In a recent appearance on the Garza Podcast, Kelly explained the origins of the feud, stating: “You bring up the Corey Taylor issue and it’s like what do you do if someone punches you in the face? That’s what happened. So I got punched in the face and I punched back and that’s crazy? That’s what I did.”
Kelly emphasized that the conflict didn’t permanently damage all his relationships within the metal community. “Look Sid from Slipknot was a good friend of mine for many many years before any of that. I was bummed that he and I’s friendship got fractured through that. But now me and Sid are back cool. And Corey and I haven’t had a chance to speak but I’ve seen him in interviews kind of be like, ‘Yeah, I mean bro we were both tripping.'”
The artist detailed the specific incident that sparked the tension. He explained his perspective on the failed collaboration: “I mean look, I don’t have any remorse for how it started. I’m a fan of him. I asked you to get on the record. He was originally on Tickets to My Downfall. As a fan of him, I said, ‘Oh, I think it would be really cool to see, you know, you do this type of verse on this song as a as a fan.’ It was called Can’t Look Back and it’s on the deluxe version. I think he was just like, ‘Oh, that’s not what I want to do.’ Okay, cool. I respect that. That’s all good.”
Kelly’s frustration intensified when Taylor publicly criticized him following the album’s success. “And then to go on and see after the album comes out and has a success to see somebody that I looked up to shitting on me. Like I said, it’s a punch in the face. What are you going to do? You punch back. I’m throwing my hands.”
The musician concluded by asserting his stance on generational respect dynamics: “So am I a fan of Slipknot? 100%. I appreciate what happened and am I going to defend myself and show my generation and the generations after us that like you don’t have to kiss the ring if there’s disrespect behind it? F*ck yeah.”
To understand Kelly’s perspective, it’s important to examine the roots of the conflict. The feud began when Machine Gun Kelly called out Slipknot from the stage during his appearance at Riot Fest in 2021, marking a dramatic public escalation of tensions that had been building behind the scenes, according to Metal Injection. The conflict stemmed from a failed collaboration on Kelly’s Tickets to My Downfall album. Taylor was initially invited to contribute a guest verse to the song “Can’t Look Back.”
What started as a creative partnership between two artists with mutual respect quickly deteriorated into a public dispute. This dispute would dominate rock and metal music discourse for years. Revolver Magazine reported that Taylor initially accepted the collaboration and recorded a verse. However, when Kelly provided feedback requesting revisions, Taylor declined to make changes. Kelly ultimately decided not to use the verse, later calling it “terrible” on social media. This decision became the catalyst for the public conflict and set the stage for years of back-and-forth criticism between the two artists.
The conflict intensified significantly when Taylor made critical comments on a podcast about an unnamed artist who “failed in one genre and decided to go rock.” This was widely interpreted as a direct reference to Kelly’s transition from rap to rock music. ALT AZ 93.3 noted that Kelly’s hostility toward Taylor and Slipknot was met in kind by crowds at rock and metal venues, creating a toxic environment that extended beyond just the two artists involved. Kelly responded by calling out Slipknot during his Riot Fest 2020 performance in 2021. He mocked the band as “old weird dudes with masks” and made disparaging remarks about their age and stage presence.
