Overview

• Videos from the Chicago festival show GWAR decapitating an Elon Musk mannequin and staging a mock disembowelment of a Donald Trump effigy.
• Right-leaning social media accounts criticized the performance for promoting or normalizing violence, propelling the clips across platforms.
• Riot Fest’s official X account mocked the backlash, calling claims that “GWAR crossed a major line” laughable.
• A GWAR representative told the New York Post the show is an absurdist, Looney Tunes–style spectacle and rejected accusations of normalizing violence.
• GWAR has used grotesque political satire since 1984, and reporting notes no official investigations or sanctions related to the Riot Fest set.