On Tyranny: Faith No More’s Roddy Bottum Laments Trans Exodus From US, Loves Zohran Mamdani, Details Witnessing ICE Brutality
“I feel, like, not so complacent, but enthused, honestly, in a great way. I feel good. It’s my job. I’m an artist, and that’s kind of what I need to do. I need to provoke and I need to demand answers and I need to challenge things.”
-Roddy Bottum
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With his new memoir The Royal We out now, I recently spoke with Roddy Bottum of Faith No More, Imperial Teen and Man on Man fame about a very wide range of topics. Read some of them in my FLOOD feature and my Bad Penny story (in which he recalled a bizarre incident involving his paranoid ex-girlfriend Courtney Love).
In this part of the interview, part of The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series, Bottum shares his first-hand accounts about the shameful and horrific acts occurring in the United States: the exodus of trans people leaving out of well-justified fear; and ICE attacks on immigrants, demonstrators and U.S. citizens.
But Bottum also discusses what he sees as a silver lining: The recent election of Democratic-Socialist Zohran Mamdani as the youngest-ever and first Muslim mayor of New York City. Here’s that portion of our wide-ranging conversation:
Are you pretty engaged with politics? Are you excited about Zohran Mamdani winning?
Absolutely. It’s all about Mamdani here. It’s so exciting, but it’s also [a] weird [anomaly] because of what else is going on in the States.
I just got back from Europe, and a lot of people, including friends of mine, have moved to Europe to get away from here. A lot of trans couples, friends that I have, they’re all living in Europe. But it’s like, that was the deal [if Trump won]. Trans people were going to leave. Europeans are like, “What is going on in America?” It’s so dark and fucked up.
But yes, New York has Zohran. And that’s a beacon to be able to pay attention to. You know, New York City is a place [to] where people look for examples. And to have that victory is so profound right now. [I’m] totally into Zoran. I hope he has a successful term. He has a hard job coming up. I’m excited for him.
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“I kind of feel a little bit like on a rampage, honestly. There’s so much to fight, politically and [against] the right and MAGA people. They’re so loud and obnoxious. Their voices and the amplification of loud it’s getting really pushes me into a place of screaming louder.“
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You haven’t witnessed any ICE incidents, have you?
In Los Angeles I did. I was in Los Angeles before I went to Europe. And Los Angeles is very, very dark right now. I mean, Los Angeles, over 5 percent of the population there is undocumented immigrant people from other countries. Choosing Los Angeles first as the city where they start rolling that [ICE and Customs Border Patrol] shit out is so cruel and unusual.
Los Angeles is really going through it. On top of dealing with fires, with the shutdown of the entertainment industry. So many of my people there have worked in that industry for so long and are losing their jobs.
I kind of feel a little bit like on a rampage, honestly. There’s so much to fight, politically and [against] the right and MAGA people. They’re so loud and obnoxious. Their voices and the amplification of loud it’s getting really pushes me into a place of screaming louder. So I feel, like, not so complacent, but enthused, honestly, in a great way. I feel good. It’s my job. I’m an artist, and that’s kind of what I need to do. I need to provoke and I need to demand answers and I need to challenge things. So in that regard, it doesn’t feel restful, but it feels really good.
The Bad Penny (beta) 
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