Steve Harwell's Nazi Controversy Resurfaces After Death

Steve Harwell's controversial past has resurfaced after the Smash Mouth singer passed away on Monday.

Harwell, who fronted the band known for "All Star" and a cover of The Monkees "I'm A Believer," died of acute liver failure while surrounded by loved ones at his home.

But some people have dug up images of Harwell seemingly giving a Nazi salute at a Smash Mouth concert and highlighted contentious comments he made about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harwell seemed to give a Nazi salute at a 2021 show in upstate New York, where he drew the ire of the crowd. The band were performing at beer festival, The Big Sip, in Bethel, N.Y., where along with the salute, people claimed Harwell was slurring his words and became volatile.

'l'll f****** kill your whole family, I swear to God," he told one person in the crowd.

One TikTok user described the performance as "the most chaotic show I've ever seen in my entire life."

A spokesperson for the band claimed an ongoing health condition was behind Harwell's bizarre behavior.

"Steve has been dealing with long-term medical issues over the last eight years and during his last performance at the Big Sip stage, he suffered numerous symptoms directly linked with his current medical situation," the spokesperson said in a statement to media at the time. "As of today, Steve will be retiring from Smash Mouth to focus on his physical and mental health."

In 2013 Harwell was diagnosed with the heart condition cardiomyopathy, as well as Wernicke's encephalopathy, a neurological condition that can affect speech and memory.

As well as his sometimes erratic behavior, Harwell—who struggled with alcoholism—also became known for his controversial opinions about the COVID-19 pandemic.

On August 9, 2020, Smash Mouth played a show in front of more than 1,000 people in Sturgis, South Dakota. During their performance, part of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally festival, Harwell shouted into the crowd: "We're all here together tonight! F*** that COVID s***!"

Very few people were wearing face coverings and practicing social distancing, despite the fact that major restrictions were in place in many parts of the country, and although his comment drew cheers from the crowd it was widely condemned elsewhere.

People on social media were quick to point out Harwell's past controversies, while others argued it was not appropriate to talk about them so soon after his death. Other people pointed to his support of the LGBTQ+ community, especially transgender people.

But for Robert Thompson, the director of Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and trustee professor at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications, "there is no sacred space after a celebrity death."

"It is, after all, part of the story... The specific nature of each celebrity and the 'bad behavior' they engaged in usually determines how soon and how extensively that behavior is covered. One can't imagine a future obituary about Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby without their prison time being front and center," he told Newsweek.

Melvin L. Williams, associate professor of Communication and Media Studies at Pace University, said to not acknowledge the negative aspect of a late celebrity's life was "historical revisionism and an inaccurate account of their public legacy."

"High-profile figures, like Steve Harwell, possess the power to harness and sustain global attention due to their cultural capital, global media coverage, parasocial relationships with mass audiences. Their deaths signify forms of conversational currency and significant social discourse concerning public figures in the media," he told Newsweek.

"Though painful for the celebrity's families and loved ones, this examination is necessary in cases when their actions were abusive, exploitative, and oppressive of others."

Williams added: "An honest, public analysis of Steve Harwell's life and death becomes more necessary and nuanced due to his past usage of anti-Semitic symbolisms, abusive behavior towards fans, and spreading of COVID-19 disinformation."

The professor explained that digital media technologies used in today's day and age have "altered the death system for celebrity deaths... as they enabled the establishment of online and offline memorials, virtual cemeteries, and public spaces for discourses about their legacies to occur instantaneously.

"As a result, perceptual decency and privacy are not granted to a celebrity of Steve Harwell's stature when situated within this capitalist, digitized, and mediated ecosystem, as the parameters of 'appropriate' and 'inappropriate' timing for public conversations about his life (both positive and negative) shall not be honored by those impacted by his past transgressions."

Williams explained that people may feel the need to point out the negative aspect of a celebrity's life after they died because "celebrity tragedies and transgressions function as human melodramas for media audiences to observe and converse about with condemnation, empathy, joy, and shame."

"Moreover, given the immediacy of digital media and their convergence with news media, publics are empowered to receive narratives from news outlets about a celebrity's transgression and create additional perspectives about the celebrity's character and presumed innocence or guilt," he said.

Smash Mouth, formed in 1994 in San Jose, California, told Newsweek via email: "Steve's legacy will live on through the music. Steve's iconic voice is one of the most recognizable voices from his generation. He loved the fans and loved to perform."

Smash Mouth's current lead singer, Zach Goode, told Newsweek in a statement: "Today, my heart goes out to Steve's family and friends. Although we never met personally, I have an enormous amount of respect for what he accomplished and the legacy that he left behind. Steve was a legend."

The band also took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to acknowledge Harwell's death.

"Steve Harwell was a true American Original. A larger than life character who shot up into the sky like a Roman candle. Steve will be remembered for his unwavering focus and impassioned determination to reach the heights of pop stardom. Rest in peace knowing you aimed for the stars, and magically hit your target. Rest easy," the band wrote.

Update 09/05/2023, 06:23 a.m. ET. This story has been updated to include additional information and comments from Smash Mouth and Zach Goode.

Update 09/05/2023, 10:29 a.m. ET. This story has been updated to include additional comment from Robert Thompson.

Update 09/06/2023, 06:00 a.m. ET. This story has been updated to include additional comment from Melvin L. Williams.