SCOTT WEILAND Slams Magazine, Says His Personal Integrity Was Attacked

VELVET REVOLVER frontman Scott Weiland has slammed New York magazine for allegedly printing Weiland's "private" Blackberry message regarding his use of a Nazi SS hat onstage during the band's live performances.

As reported last week, Scott made the German branch of the band's label, Sony BMG Music, uneasy after executives there learned that Weiland had recently been wearing a Nazi SS hat onstage. According to New York magazine, a letter from the German office to the U.S. office read in part, "We absolutely don't want to interfere in how our artists dress (but) any kind of wearing/presenting Nazi symbols in public is strictly forbidden by law in Germany and can lead to getting arrested!"

Weiland responded in what he claims was a private message to his record label, "The Nazi SS hat that I wear in fact symbolizes the loss of democracy and the shift to totalitarianism...one could make an argument that indeed the government of the U.S. is evolving into, or is already, a fascist police state, hiding under the guise of a republic."

In his latest posting on the band's web site, Weiland reveals that he did not wear the Nazi SS hat onstage at the German shows "out of respect" for the group's fans and takes a few potshots at New York magazine for "attacking [his] personal integrity" and "invading [his] personal privacy":

"Out of respect for my German fans of all races and creeds, as well as those who might have been offended, and those who might have misunderstood the true meaning of the event that did not, in fact, take place, I did not wear the SS hat at the German shows. As for the writer from New York magazine — thousands of miles away — attacking my personal integrity by printing a private Blackberry message of mine, and the press invading my personal privacy to spin a web of deceit about me? Not an original concept, especially when being done with malice!

"Once again I have been very vocal with my opinions about policies. Music, theatrics, and their combined force can ultimately be much more powerful than empty promises or political jargon that's almost unlistenable and definitely unbelievable — especially when spoken by politicians who's motives are self-seeking, yet whose arms are long reaching (all the way into the private sector). Dollars go in and body bags come out, and wounded men and women are sent back to America as heroes, but not quite the same as they were before; a leg missing, two legs missing, an arm gone, one man shot in the face, a morphine drip in the arm. But a thumbs up! That's all that some could give.

"Walter Reed Army Medical Center three weeks ago. Slash, my wife, and I, were there on our anniversary. We couldn't have prepared ourselves for what we saw: not the pain or the horror, but the courage... the honor. 'I declare this mission accomplished!' said our fearless 'leader'. It will never be over.

"I sent the original e-mail to people at my record label and to people at my management company. Someone mysteriously passed it off to you. Now you slandering me is the same as slandering my entire family! Are you trying to start a war with me?"