Metallica’s lead singer James Hetfield is speaking out following the release of Kendall and Kylie Jenner’s controversial “vintage” T-shirt line.
Speaking with ET Canada in a Canadian exclusive, the 53-year-old singer-songwriter expresses his discontent after the two reality star sisters superimprosed their logos and faces onto shirts featuring iconic imagery of the heavy metal band.
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“To me, it’s disrespectful,” Hetfield explains. “We’ve spent 36 years working hard, doing our best to keep a really close connection with people. Someone just throws something up over something that we feel. Not that it’s sacred or anything, but show some respect.”
Hetfield is currently on the road with Metallica for the band’s WorldWired Tour until the end of May of next year in support of their tenth studio album, Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, which has already been named the top selling rock album of 2017 thus far.
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“I’m pleasantly shocked and surprised that this album is getting the attention it is,” the singer says. “We’re just writing the next best thing we can write and we’re writing music that we like to hear and play.”
Although Hetfield is best known as one of the greatest heavy metal rockers of all time, the father of three admits that his carpool playlist includes some surprising and classic 70s jams. “‘Dancing Queen’,” he says. “Whenever that comes on in the car, everyone is happy.”