Watch James Hetfield’s Heartfelt Comments on American Unrest: ‘We Don’t Give A S— About the Differences… All Are Welcome.’

Metallica wrapped up the North American leg of their 2017 WorldWired tour in Edmonton on Wednesday — and frontman James Hetfield took a moment to address current events from the stage, reminding fans that racism and political intolerance have no place in what he called the "Metallica family."

Hetfield's brief address took place roughly 20 minutes into the show, which you can stream in full via the above embed. "Before we go any further, we've gotta make something very clear," he told the crowd. "Metallica doesn't give a s---, all right? We don't give a s--- about the differences, okay? We care about the similarities. So the fact that you're here — we don't care who you voted for, what you do or don't eat, we don't care what color your skin is, what you do for a job. We don't care what you've done in the past. What we do care about is the fact that we're all together here, celebrating life with music. So for me, you are Metallica family. All are welcome. Are you with us?"

Calling the livestream a way to say "thank you to some of the craziest, most passionate, intense avid fans on the planet," Metallica marked the end of its 2017 North American tour as "another memorable and special summer run for us seeing so many new faces along with lots of old friends as you welcomed us back for our first tour of North America in over eight years," adding, "As we near the end, we want to share one more evening with all of you."

The seriousness of current events aside, the group's 2017 tour has found Metallica in a relatively relaxed state; as guitarist Kirk Hammett pointed out in a recent interview with Bay Area station 107.7FM, the band members have long since learned how to settle in and enjoy their roles — and throughout the summer, they were "constantly being blown away" by the response.

"It's been awhile since we've been in America doing a tour like this, and we were a little bit apprehensive," Hammett admitted. "'Are people gonna show up with the same enthusiasm that they did last time?' But they certainly have, in droves, and then more so. People are showing their love more than ever for Metallica, and it's great. And just as importantly, we seem to be reaching a lot of new fans who have never seen us before, and to us, that's fantastic."

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