Axl Rose Versus Steven Mnuchin in Twitter Feud

On the evening of May 6, 2020, Axl Rose, an original member of Guns N’ Roses, started a Twitter feud with the United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The musician was born on Feb. 6, 1962. His name at birth was William Bruce Rose Jr. Rose’s mother changed his last name to Bailey (after his stepfather) and did not know his biological father’s name until he was 17. Until that point, the singer believed Bailey was his father. He accidentally stumbled upon this fact whilst going through paperwork at his parent’s house.

Mnuchin is in charge of overseeing the debt issuance and the fiscal welfare of the U.S. In the tweet, the rockstar called Mnuchin an explicit name. He then insinuated that Mnuchin would like to copy Liberia economically. Then made his opinion clear that he holds Mnuchin somewhat responsible for keeping Americans safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To which Mnuchin replied by asking what Rose had “done for the country lately.” The reasoning behind the star name-calling was unclear, at first. However, Rose cleared up some of the confusion when he answered Mnuchin’s question.

Mnuchin was interviewed on May 4, by Fox Business Network. The Treasury Secretary stated it was extremely difficult to know at this time if international travel would open by the end of the year.

In his reply, the rocker indicates he does not hold a government position, therefore, is not responsible for over 70 thousand deaths in the U.S. Rose also points out the fact that he has not been on television telling the “American people… 2 travel the US during a pandemic.”

Of course, this “feud” has piqued the interest of many people. One person mentioned that Rose never tagged Mnuchin in his post. Also, Mnuchin is not a follower of Rose, so how did Mnuchin know about Rose’s tweet? There are a few people who mentioned that Mnuchin used the Liberia flag emoji in his response instead of the U.S.A. flag. This has since been edited in Mnuchin’s post.

This is not the first time for Rose to have an issue with someone in the White House. He has been voicing his opinion about Donald Trump since 2016. Ever since Trump decided to nominate Senator Jeff Sessions for his Attorney General, in 2019, the rockstar formally requested Trump to stop listening to Guns N’ Roses.

On May 2, Rose criticized California’s officials on their decision to not enforce the beach closures. In a tweet, he asked if hospitals can choose not to admit those who chose to go to the beach; especially since “Sheriffs can choose not to enforce” the state closed beaches.

Since COVID-19 has people quarantined, the internet has been a huge vice for everyone. The Rose/Mnuchin feud has people taking sides and creatively chatting about the situation.

By Sheena Robertson
Edited by Jeanette Vietti

Sources:

Billboard: 11 Times Axl Rose Bashed President Donald Trump
NBC: Treasury Secretary Mnuchin gets in Twitter tiff with Axl Rose
Daily Mail: Bizarre Twitter feud erupts between Axl Rose and Steven Mnuchin after the Guns N’ Roses front man called the US Treasury Secretary an ‘a**hole’
Biography: Axl Rose
NME: Axl Rose criticises officials choosing not to enforce California beach closures

Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Ed Vill’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License