System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan has not shied away from sharing his political opinions — especially during the months surrounding the 2020 US presidential election and its aftermath.

An outspoken supporter of embattled former US president Donald Trump, Dolmayan took to Instagram on Sunday (October 22nd) to claim that he’s lost “people that I thought were friends” and “hundreds of thousands of fans” because of his beliefs and willingness to espouse them online.

The drummer shared the following statement posted as an image on his account, suggesting that some of his detractors are now seeing the validity of his opinions:

“I lost people that I thought were friends over the last few years primarily due to my unwillingness to accept the narratives they are now questioning the validity of. Not to mention hundreds of thousands of fans who couldn’t handle my opinions here on Instagram. When you endeavor to help those in peril, or guide those that are being duped, sometimes you lose because of it. You do it anyway.”

Added Dolmayan in the post’s caption: “And I’ll do it again.”

As we’ve reported in the past, Dolmayan’s opinions have included questioning the legitimacy of Black Lives Matter, calling democrats the “true bigots,” and hailing Trump as the “greatest friend to minorities.”

He previously elaborated on the personal impact of sharing his political views in a 2022 interview [transcribed via Blabbermouth], discussing the amount of Instagram followers he’s lost since the 2020 election cycle.

“I’ve hovered around 250 thousand followers for probably, like, three years or four years,” Dolmayan said. “When we were in the middle of the Trump-versus-Biden debacle and attempting to figure out who was gonna continue to lead this country, I lost a ton of followers every time I would post something that was either pro-Trump or pro my opinions one way or the other.”