System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan tells Kanye West to “Show some class man” after the rapper posts revealing photos of his wife Bianca Censori to Instagram on her birthday

System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan
(Image credit: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images)

System of a Down drummer, John Dolmayan has urged Kanye West to “show some class” after the rapper posted photos of [Kanye’s wife], Bianca Censori on his Instagram profile.

Celebrating Censori’s 29th birthday, West (46), took to social media to publicly wish her a happy birthday via a number of posts. The first reads, 

“Happy birthday to the most beautiful super bad fun iconic muse inspirational talented artist masters degree in architecture 140 IQ loving by my side everyday when half the world turned their backs on me and the most amazing step mom to our children I love you so much thank you for sharing your life with me”  

The posts continue, with one photo in particular — featuring a lone Censori wearing revealing clothing — accompanied by the words “Caption this” grabbing Dolmayan’s attention.

Dolmayan commented with his opinion saying, “Show some class man. You have kids who look to you for moral guidance and this is supposed to be the person you protect the most. Your wife isn’t supposed to be your trophy, she’s your place of pride and dignity. This isn’t the way.”

Dolmayan’s outrage has so far amassed nearly 600 responses, and as you might expect, there’s a lot of arguing. Dolmayan clapped back, asking one commenter, “Would you show pictures of your wife’s t*ts to your friends? Your parents? If so you and I don’t see things the same way and no amount of explaining will change that. Good luck to you.”

Of course, John Dolmayan is no stranger to controversy himself, having caused a stir by sharing his political opinions. In 2020 he denounced the Black Lives Matter movement, claiming it never had legitimacy while also calling it a “propaganda tool” for the Democratic party.

Later that year, Dolmayan took to Instagram to wish Donald Trump a happy birthday, and took the opportunity to hail the former President’s political rivals as “true bigots”. 

In 2023, the drummer revealed via Instagram that he had lost “hundreds of thousands” of fans, as well as alienating people he “thought were friends” thanks to his outspoken posts. He captioned the picture saying “And I’ll do it again.”

Stuart Williams
Drums

I'm a freelance member of the MusicRadar team, specialising in drum news, interviews and reviews. I formerly edited Rhythm and Total Guitar here in the UK and have been playing drums for more than 25 years (my arms are very tired). When I'm not working on the site, I can be found on my electronic kit at home, or gigging and depping in function bands and the odd original project.