US Republicans have condemned a poster by rock band Pearl Jam that shows the White House in flames and a bald eagle pecking at a skeleton they say is meant to depict President Donald Trump.
The National Republican Senate Committee compared it to the now-infamous photo of comedian Kathy Griffin holding a fake decapitated Trump head.
The group's Twitter account says the official poster from Monday's concert in Missoula, Montana, is a collaboration between bassist Jeff Ament and Bobby Brown, an artist also known as Bobby Draws Skulls.
The concert aimed to encourage young people to vote in the November midterm elections and support Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana.
Ament was unapologetic in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
"The role of the artist is to make people think and feel, and the current administration has us thinking and feeling," Ament said.
"I was the sole conceptualist of this poster, and I welcome all interpretations and discourse."
He ended the statement, "Love, from the First Amendment, Jeff Ament."
The poster shows Tester in a tractor flying over a burning Washington, DC, framed by the letters "P" and "J," with smoke forming the word "Vote" in the background.
Several objects and people are in the foreground, including a skeleton with a full head of hair lying face down, an eagle pecking at the bones of its foot.
Tester's Republican opponent, Matt Rosendale, called the poster "disgusting and reprehensible" and called on Tester to "denounce this act of violence and blatant display of extremism."
Tester officials said the campaign had nothing to do with the poster.
"We never saw the poster before the show and we don't like it," Tester spokesman Chris Meagher said. "And we don't condone violence of any kind."
Australian Associated Press
