Petition launched to ban Metallica at Glastonbury

A petition has been launched by Glastonbury-goers, aiming to ban Metallica from performing at the festival, due to frontman James Hetfield's support of bear hunting. 

The heavy metal icons have so far proven a somewhat controversial choice to top the bill on the Pyramid Stage this year, due to their hard rock sound not really seeming like the typical sound for Glasto. 

But now, the controversy has heightened - with many Glasto-goers taking issue with Hetfield's support of bear hunting, as it is not in-keeping with the green and peace-loving ethos of the festival.

Hetfield has been announced to narrate an upcoming TV show on the History Channel titled 'The Hunt', chronicling a trek to Alaska to kill brown bears. He is also a member of America's National Rifle Association. 

A protest group called 'Remove Metallica from Glastonbury Festival for their support of Bear Hunting' have set up a Facebook page, website and Twitter page with the mission statement: "(We are) are an appeal to the organisers of Glastonbury to remove Metallica from their lineup due to James Hetfields support of Big Game Hunting.

"We believe this is incompatible with the spirit of Glastonbury and brings its good name into disrepute."

In an interview with The Usual last, year, Hetfield said: "I love my guns. I love that my dad handed them down to me, and I’m taking care of them. To me, though, some of the gun laws definitely don’t make any sense, but also the Second Amendment is very important to me. Somewhere in the middle lies the truth. Both sides are operating on a fear base.

"As an NRA member, I don’t think we need to be afraid that if we compromise on some things, [they] are going to change so much. I don’t want to make it easier for someone to have an assault weapon, but I also want to be able to protect my family."

Metallica will headline Glastonbury alongside Kasabian and Arcade Fire at the event at Worthy Farm, Somerset from 26 - 29 June. Other acts announced include The Black Keys, Lana Del Rey, Jack White, Manic Street Preachers, Jake Bugg, Pixies, Dolly Parton, Interpol, Massive Attack and many more.