Tim “Ripper” Owens Is “Up To The Task” Of Replacing Phil Anselmo In PANTERA Tribute Tour

Troubled PANTERA vocalist is apparently in jeopardy of being fired by the Abbott Estate due to a growing controversy around a 2016 incident at Dimebash event when Anselmo said “White power” and made a racist “Nazi” gesture to the crowd. Tim “Ripper” Owens believes he can fill in for Anselmo if and when he is fired for the outburst that Anselmo claims was all an inside joke.

In a 2023 interview with DJ Zoran Theodorovic of Metal Godz Radio, the former Judas Priest frontman said that he would be “up to the task” of stepping in for Phil Anselmo, if the opportunity were to arise, at a Pantera concert on the reformed band’s upcoming tour in 2024.

Ripper said:

“Well, I would be up to the task as celebrating Pantera, like they’re doing right now, which I think is fantastic. All these guys — Zakk [Wylde, guitar] and Charlie [Benante, drums] — you couldn’t have picked two cooler guys to celebrate that. My thing is I would celebrate it.

“I have my own career; I do my own stuff. People are always, like, ‘Oh, you’re always singing for this and that.’ Well, listen, I put records out of me singing my own stuff all the time; I can’t put any more records out of me singing stuff.”