Last year, John Maus appeared on the Adult Swim show “Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace.” His song “Hey Moon” featured in the same episode. The program gained a reputation for promoting racist, sexist, and bigoted viewpoints and symbolism. Its creator, Sam Hyde, is also an outspoken proponent of the alt-right. “Million Dollar Extreme” was canceled after one season. Several artists whose music was used on the show—including Molly Nilsson, Chastity Belt, and Ovlov—immediately distanced themselves from the program and disavowed its views. In a new interview with Noisey, John Maus has now spoken about his “Million Dollar Extreme” involvement for the first time.

Maus begins by explaining how the opportunity came to be: “I was out in Minnesota, and the label got in touch and said, ‘A show on Adult Swim wants you to be on it.’ I was like, ‘Oh, Adult Swim.’” At that point, he researched Hyde’s work and agreed to do the show. Maus describes the people on the set as “super nice,” but months later, upon learning that “they’re Nazis,” as he puts it, Maus says, “Shit. A cult of a race and blood—that’s an absolute obscenity. That’s nothing other than disaster. That’s just inarguably obscene, that sort of ideology.” He does not, however, disavow the creators:

I don’t want to make any apology, but I also didn’t want to.... The guys I met were nice. They weren’t burning crosses or doing anything like that. In other words, I never had, from what I know about it, any indication that anything other than certain instances of a sort of trolling was going on. What did they do that made them Nazis? Maybe I haven’t looked into it. Or why were they alt-right people?

The episode in which Maus appeared also featured a disturbing sketch where a man trips his sister-in-law, causing her to fall through a glass table and bleed. Maus recalls, “Now immediately, I’m thinking of ‘Metalocalypse.’ I’m thinking of phantasmagorical humor, like a person gets their arm ripped off or something, and there’s something absurd about that. I didn’t think much beyond that about it.” He adds, “The idea that it just encourages violence against women, maybe I’m just too dumb. I didn’t see that or something like that. I don’t know.”

Later in the interview, Maus says he is “absolutely” receptive to people challenging his political views. He also affirms that he does not want hateful people at his shows:

If you would stand by and watch a pig smash the head of a trans person because they’re trans, fuck you. If you would watch a pig shoot a toddler in a park and not try to stop him, then yes, fuck you. Finally it comes down to, if you don’t have a sort of indignance when you see atrocities committed, you’re not communing with the same humanity that I am.

Read the full interview here. Pitchfork has contacted John Maus’ representatives for further comment.