Tommy Lee Isn’t Interested In Telling His Opinions To ‘Shut Up and Play Drums’

Tommy Lee has heard the criticism before: stick to the drums and keep his opinions to himself.

The Mötley Crüe drummer, however, has no intention of doing either.

During a recent appearance on Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan, Lee opened up about his frustration with people who believe musicians should stay out of conversations beyond their music.

“I hate that, ‘Just shut up and play drums,'” the Motley Crue legend admitted, “What, I don’t have an opinion or a voice?”

For Lee, disagreeing with what he says is completely fair game, what he rejects is the idea that being a musician means he should surrender his right to speak publicly (per Ultimate Classic Rock).

The drummer acknowledged that fans “don’t have to agree” with everything he says, explaining that he is sometimes “just spitting out some bull— that I think.” But whether people agree with him or not, Lee believes he should be able to express his views.

The firing line

That has occasionally put him directly in the firing line online, while Lee’s social media presence frequently covers music, his family and touring, he has also been outspoken about politics, including criticism of President Donald Trump.

Earlier this year, he asked: “How f—ing stupid do you have to be to still be a Trump supporter at this point?”

The post attracted support from people who agreed with him, alongside plenty of angry responses and personal attacks from Trump supporters, Lee says he has learned not to spend too much time worrying about the reaction.

“There’s times where I’ll post something or say something where I honestly, I don’t read the comments because I don’t care [about the reaction],” he remarked. “And that’s a fun position to be in. I guess you can just kind of have your little social diarrhea moments where you just kind of throw [opinions] out there and if it sticks, cool. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter.”

Despite his often provocative online presence, Lee’s answer to what he would change about society was surprisingly simple: less division and more love.

“I don’t even know if it’s possible, but God, I’m sure it would be cool if everybody was so just, just not divided so much,” he responded. “I feel like everybody’s running their own program and like, just all over the place.”

“I wish I could just like give the whole world a hug,” the Motley Crue drummer continued. “I’d be injecting as much love as possible, because there’s an incredible imbalance right now, everywhere.”

Mötley Crüe are currently on the Return of the Carnival of Sins tour, which wraps up on September 26th in Ridgefield, Washington.