Although Justin Bieber is pretty much universally hated by any and every metal fan, the feeling isn’t mutual. We’ve seen him rep Metallica on more than one occasion, be it him mouth-guitaring the opening solo to Metallica’s “Fade to Black” and Instagramming a shot of him wearing a Metallica shirt and Pharell’s hat. He’s also hung out with Anthrax bassist Frank Bello and not completely embarrassed himself lip-syncing Ozzy Osbourne on Lipsync Battle. Today on Ellen, he appeared on the show with another Metallica shirt, this time to promote his forthcoming album.

As Metal Injection first pointed out, social media is going nuts. However, it seems like most of the people reacting never noticed him giving props to the band before. Also, while it’s, I  guess, kind of edgy for a pop star in his early ’20s to express admiration for a metal band, it’s not like Metallica is like Cannibal Corpse or anything. They only have the #1 best-selling SoundScan album of all time. Way to take a stand, Biebs. Ultimately, if Randy Blythe is sticking up for you, and even Metallica admit some respect for him, then he can wear whatever shirt he wants, even though if any metal fans wear Bieber shirts, they’re obviously doing it ironically.