Yesterday, Slayer frontman Tom Araya hit back at fans criticising his decision to post a photoshopped image of the band posing with Donald Trump, calling them "snowflakes" and adding, "Like him or not he is the president".

Now, Slayer have followed that post with a statement issued to Rolling Stone which appears to try to distance them from the controversy. "As was verified by Tom, this was his post, is not something the band would have posted if asked, and does not belong on a Slayer social page," says the statement. "We all have our personal opinions, some of which we have voiced in the past, but Slayer has never endorsed any political party or any candidate, and the band intends to keep it that way."

Araya had pointed out in his post that he was behind it, and said that "the picture did exactly what I thought it would do... piss some of you off". Later in the comments, he also referred to "Mike Pence turning fruits into vegetables", a comment that has been interpreted as a reference to the Vice President's apparent support of gay conversion therapy. You can see the post here.

The band's Kerry King endorsed Hillary Clinton in an interview last summer, calling her "the safe, correct choice" and labelling Donald Trump "a sideshow".