Exodus and Slayer guitarist Gary Holt recently addressed one of the biggest myths in thrash metal. He spoke about his famous ‘Kill the Kardashians’ t-shirt business in a new interview.
Holt was directly asked whether he had made more money from the t-shirt venture than from an Exodus record. His answer quickly set the record straight while offering a candid look at his real-life encounters with the Kardashian family.
“No, no, no, that’s a myth too. But I have done quite well at times, you know, on a small-time level, you know, not a rich level, but, you know, the Kim Kardashian thing, I felt so bad when I was at the Back to the Beginning concert. Because I had a genuine Kardashian watching my show on the side stage,” Holt said.
He went on to clarify the original intent behind the shirt and shared a surprising backstage moment involving Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian.
“And I always said it’s more about killing the American’s world’s fascination with celebrity than anything. I got no beef with them whatsoever. And Travis Barker was the nicest f*cking guy I ever met in my life. I met him just for a minute, and I looked over at Kourtney, and she gave me a look. Like she knows that’s that guy who wears those shit,” he continued.
Holt also touched on his personal connections to the Kardashian circle and made clear that the shirt was never meant as a genuine threat.
“Fortunately, I wasn’t wearing it that day. You know, I sold a guitar once, a stage-played guitar to a guy who works for Kylie Jenner Beauty, and she said she’s a really, really nice person. I bet, yeah, you know, it’s like that, I don’t want them to die. Please don’t go out and kill a Kardashian. A friend of mine made the shirt for me, right? And it just went from there,” he said.
The comments came as part of a broader conversation about the biggest myths surrounding thrash metal music.
The ‘Kill the Kardashians’ shirt has a well-documented origin that stretches back over a decade. It is rooted in a clash between metal culture and celebrity fashion. The controversy first ignited when Kendall Jenner was spotted wearing a Slayer t-shirt at the 2014 Coachella Festival. Many in the metal community viewed the move as a shallow appropriation of the genre’s imagery without any genuine connection to the music.
Holt’s response was swift and characteristically blunt. A friend named Jack originally made the shirt for him. After Holt began wearing it on stage during Slayer and Exodus shows, it quickly went viral. He then turned it into official merchandise through his No Love Apparel brand, transforming a personal statement into a commercially available piece of thrash metal history.
Despite the shirt’s provocative name, Holt has consistently maintained that his frustration was never directed at the Kardashians personally. “You know, I don’t hate the Kardashians,” he has said. “I hate the people that have made them famous — us. I hate the fact that people are so enamored and just fascinated by them.” The target, in his view, was always the culture of celebrity worship rather than the family itself.
The feud took an unexpected twist in 2019 when Kim Kardashian appeared to clap back with a photo featuring a “Kill Gary Holt” message. Holt responded publicly with characteristic humor. The back-and-forth only amplified the story’s reach, cementing the shirt as one of the most talked-about pieces of merchandise in modern metal.
Over the years, Holt has reprinted the shirt multiple times in response to renewed public interest. What began as a single custom tee made by a friend has since become a defining symbol of the ongoing tension between mainstream celebrity culture and the metal community’s fierce sense of authenticity.
Source: Metal Injection
