In Esquire’s recent interview with the Navy Seal that allegedly shot Osama bin Laden, it was revealed that Metallica had requested the U.S. military to stop using their music during interrogations (while Demon Hunter were more than ok with their music being used). While many wondered why Metallica would deny the military usage to their music, the band now claims they made no such request.

Metallica issued the following response, titled “Clearing The Air,” on their website:

“There has been a lot of talk recently about us asking the military not to use our music to ‘soften people up before interrogation.’  We NEVER commented to the military either way on this matter.  Any statements that have been made otherwise are not correct.”

The shooter who Esquire spoke to claimed that “Metallica got wind of this and they said, ‘Hey, please don’t use our music because we don’t want to promote violence.’ I thought, Dude, you have an album called Kill ‘Em All.” However, now Metallica are essentially denying this claim. Whether this means the military will get to use “Seek & Destroy” next time they torture a terrorist, though, is yet to be seen.