Red Hot Chili Peppers mistaken for Metallica by confused customs officials

Flea regales the hilarious story on Instagram

Published 11th Jul 2016

In a hilarious case of mistaken identity, Red Hot Chili Peppers were forced to sign Metallica merchandise by confused customs officials in Belarus last week.

Despite not one member of the band looking even remotely like James Hetfield, Robert Trujillo, Lars Ulrich or Kirk Hammett, the Chili Peppers gladly signed an array of CDs, photos and artwork when they were detained at the Belarus airport.

Sharing a photo of himself signing away on Instagram, bassist Flea explained: “We were called into customs officials office at an airport in Belarus and they asked us to sign a bunch of Metallica cd's and photos.

“We tried to explain to them that we weren't Metallica but they insisted that we sign anyway. They had the power. Well I did play fight fire with with with Metallica once. I love Metallica anyways but I'm no Robert Trujillo.”

Red Hot Chili Peppers headlined T in the Park last night (10th July) and return to the UK on the August Bank Holiday weekend for Reading & Leeds Festival. Their eleventh studio album ‘The Getaway’ was released last month.