By Hayley Prokos
Fellow, Entertainment
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Last week, thrash metal band Slayer announced that it was partnering with Rick Ware Racing as the primary sponsor for the entry #54 in a race at the Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend, but a statement on Friday revealed the band had been sacked.
Slayer, which is in the midst of its final world tour, was to team with Rick Ware Racing as the primary sponsors of the #54 entry at Saturday's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, with veteran racer J.J. Yeley behind the wheel.
A post shared by Slayer (@slayerbandofficial) on Aug 13, 2019 at 1:01pm PDT
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"Today, reportedly due to reactionary concerns from other long-time participating sponsors, Slayer has been pulled as the primary sponsor, and all Slayer signage has been removed from the car that was to be piloted by Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series veteran, J.J. Yeley," the band wrote in a statement, according to Billboard. "The incontrovertible PODS Moving & Storage will now sponsor that car. After nearly 40 years, Slayer apparently remains as terrifying to some as ever."
Neither Rick Ware Racing nor J.J. Yeley have commented publicly about the decision.
Several times last week, Yeley tweeted about the sponsorship by Slayer. The last time he tweeted about it was August 13, when the race car driver provided an update on the poll he posted over which introduction song he should use at the August 17 competition.
"It's exciting and awesome that Rick and the boys are wearing the Slayer banner making us a part of NASCAR history!" said bassist and vocalist Tom Araya, according to an August 13 article by Billboard.
"Raining Blood," which had the lead in Yeley's August 12 Twitter poll, was a part of the controversial album 1986 album Reign in Blood.
The album was criticized for its opening track, "Angel of Death." The song, which was written by Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman and produced by Rick Rubin, referenced medical experiments conducted by infamous Nazi physician Josef Mengele on prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Reports have said that Rubin's adamance to keep the song in the album prompted music distributor Columbia Records to cancel the record's release.
Hanneman, a founding member of Slayer, died in 2013, though the band has continued to perform. Band members include Araya, guitarists Kerry King and Gary Holt and drummer Paul Bostaph.
Holt and Bostaph are not founding members of the band.
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