When Vince Neil Denied Mötley Crüe’s ‘Dead Chicken’ Incident

There’s something about rock stars and killing animals on stage as these rumors never seem to come to an end. While there are several rockers responsible for these unbelievable allegations, such as Ozzy Osbourne who bit the head of a bat on stage, and Slipknot members who sniffed a dead crow on stage, there are also artists who were falsely accused.

For instance, the legendary Alice Cooper was once accused of biting a chicken’s head and drinking its blood while on stage. As expected, this wasn’t entirely true, but a chicken was killed during one of his shows. However, it wasn’t killed by the Godfather of Shock Rock but the crowd Cooper threw the poor chicken into.

The same rumor was instigated concerning the members of Mötley Crüe as well, and lead singer Vince Neil opened up about the accusations during an interview with MTV. Although he denied killing chickens on stage, there’s footage that debunks his statement. Let’s take a look at that stage moment to see if Mötley Crüe actually killed a chicken during a concert.

Mötley Crüe Threw A Chicken Into The Crowd

During an interview with MTV in 1991, Vince Neil said he had come across many fans who wanted to attend one of their concerts, but their parents didn’t allow it because Mötley Crüe was rumored to kill chickens while performing a show. As a reaction, the Mötley Crüe singer stressed the absurdity of killing chickens on stage and refuted this allegation.

In his own words, Neil said:

“So many were telling me that they want to come to see our concerts, and their parents won’t let them because we kill chickens on stage. It’s like, ‘What? Chickens?'”

While Neil found the idea of killing chickens on stage straight-up absurd, there was one time that may prove him wrong. During a concert in 1985 at Ann Arbor during their ‘Welcome to the Theatre of Pain Tour,’ everything looked normal on stage while the band was performing one of their songs.

That’s when bassist Nikki Sixx saw a chicken walking around the stage and grabbed it to get rid of the animal. He had the worst idea and threw it into the audience, which killed the poor animal and threw it back onto the stage. The dead chicken fell right between Vince Neil’s legs as the singer was performing the song, and guitarist Mick Mars looked confused about what was going on.

Although the band didn’t technically kill a chicken on stage, it was a no-brainer that the crowd would kill it the moment Sixx threw it onto them. Apparently, Neil had erased the entire incident from his memory as he completely ignored the fact that they once caused a chicken to die, and the dead animal stood right in front of his feet for minutes. 

You can watch those moments down below.