Pearl Jam members Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament were interviewed today on Green Light with Chris Long. Alternative Nation transcribed their comments. Vedder criticized President Donald Trump, but actually said he wanted him to succeed at certain points despite not being a supporter, especially during the pandemic. Vedder heavily ripped Trump in the 2016 campaign and consistently since his January 2017 inauguration, even mocking the size of his genitalia as being small. Pearl Jam endorsed Joe Biden for President a few months ago.
Jeff Ament also reacted to Pearl Jam receiving negative comments when making social media posts criticizing conservatives and backing liberals like Joe Biden, claiming that it’s mostly ‘Russian bots’ leaving negative comments. He also discussed some fans booing Eddie Vedder in the past. Vedder recently discussed why he refused to play “Better Man.”
Vedder discussed President Trump’s performance in office, “When it first happened, I think there were a lot of people that said, ‘Well okay, we respect the office of the Presidency, and let’s see where this goes.’ Actually, lend some support to the office that governs our country, of which we are proud citizens. It’s our republic. Some of that faith that lasted for some time, there’s this kind of narrative out there that it’s all been attacks on him.
He’s had a lot of opportunities to do better, to do great things, to do some of the things he said he would. Just culminating in this pandemic where you’ve seen the lack of leadership, and lack of assistance, lack of information, lack of direction to save lives in the hundreds of thousands. People who don’t like him are not excited that he’s failing at that.
That was another time that we were rooting for him, because we’re talking Americans lives, and the way our leadership can be viewed around the rest of the world if it was proven to be successful. I think it’s a real exciting time, as dark as it is, it’s exciting. To vote, you get a jolt of energy from it. This is your form of protest, it’s the most powerful form of peaceful protest, as John Lewis said.”
Ament said regarding fan criticism over their liberal views, “One difference from 25 to 30 years ago, is we didn’t have social media. There might be a show where Ed would speak out about something and maybe you’d have a smattering of boos, and that’s awesome, that’s a real back and forth. Now you don’t even know who it is. We’re sort of being told by our IT people that when you get that big 5 to 10 minute rush of negative stuff on social media, it’s bots. They can immediately find out that it’s all coming from Russia or the Ukraine.”
Eddie later added, “When I think about the old days, even up to current, the amount of stuff we probably end up talking about, or having be somehow public, is maybe 1/10. So much of the stuff we’re able to participate in, or help out financially, there’s a lot of different stuff under the radar. Really, when it’s something that comes out public, every once in awhile you have to address an issue, and to not even engage the crowd, but just to gauge the crowd.
We’ve just been so fortunate to have a bit of a relationship based on the songs and shows. There’s a group of people out there, they’re friends, and they’ve had friendships and marriages based on meeting at the shows. There’s a connection there. The great thing is that’s not a byproduct of us, we’re a byproduct of them. I think we’ve been pretty responsible over the years, and respectful of how much they’re willing to put up with from us.”
