Pearl Jam raises Republicans’ ire
Band gets political with new poster
HELENA, MONT. Republicans are condemning a poster by Pearl Jam that shows the White House in flames and a bald eagle pecking at a skeleton they say is meant to depict U.S. President Donald Trump.
The National Republican Senate Committee compared it to the now-infamous photo of comedian Kathy Griffin holding a fake decapitated Trump head.
The rock group’s Twitter account says the official poster from Monday’s concert in Missoula, Mont., is a collaboration between bassist Jeff Ament and Bobby Brown, an artist also known as Bobby Draws Skulls.
The Rock2vote concert aimed to encourage young people to vote in the November midterm elections and support Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, who is from Ament’s hometown of Big Sandy.
The poster includes an accompanying message from Ament that says, “Y’all know the deal, we’re at a tipping point and its (sic) time for action.”
The poster shows Tester in a tractor flying over a burning Washington, D.C., framed by the letters “P” and “J,” with smoke forming the word “Vote” in the background.
Several objects and people are in the foreground, including a skeleton with a full head of hair lying face down, an eagle pecking at the bones of its foot.
Tester’s Republican opponent, Montana State Auditor Matt Rosendale, also is depicted with a crab claw for a hand and carrying a “Maryland” flag, a reference to Rosendale’s native state.
The message from Ament accompanying the poster included the description: “D.C. burning. Tester Evel Knievel on tractor ... over the cesspool below. Russian money, golf courses, hookers? Maryland Matt. Stars and Stripes as flames.”
Rosendale called the poster “disgusting and reprehensible” and called on Tester to “denounce this act of violence and blatant display of extremism.”
The National Republican Senate Committee, which is supporting Rosendale’s campaign, also blamed Tester for not speaking out against the poster it called “gory.” The committee compared it to other examples of public figures “encouraging violence” against Trump, like Griffin’s photo.
Tester communications director Chris Meagher did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ament told The Associated Press in April that the band wanted to use the Montana concert to support local advocacy groups, encourage voter participation and boost Tester’s campaign. The musician said he believed that the political climate had become too divisive.