Rage Against the Machine

 

                        
Showing respect to a country’s flag is a practice that everyone must do, especially when it’s your own nation’s banner. Some artists, however, have their own separate rules. Just take a look at Rage Against the Machine’s 1996 SNL performance.

The band was in the middle of playing one of their scheduled two songs when showrunners decided to throw them out of the Rockefeller Studios. The reason? Well, the band decided to use the United States flag as a stage prop and display it upside down. Now, if you’re knowledgeable about showing respect to national flags, you’d know that displaying any flag in an upside-down manner is a mortal sin no matter what country you go to. We have to give credit to the producers, though, for being quick and firm with their actions. Although the band’s controversial actions didn’t end there, their relationship with SNL surely did. Rage Against the Machine has been banned from the show since then.