The Young Pope & George Stroumboulopoulos: The Color Red in Foo Fighters’ “The Pretender”
George Stroumboulopoulos: Alright, so let’s break this down. “The Pretender” by Foo Fighters—a song of defiance, rebellion, and, of course, that striking imagery of red. Some say it’s about personal resistance, some say political revolution. But Your Holiness, you have a different interpretation, don’t you?
The Young Pope: Of course, George. The color red is never just a color. It is a mark of history, of ideology, of blood. The Foo Fighters, knowingly or not, tap into a deep well of red symbolism.
George: Okay, let’s get into it. What does red mean in this video, in your view?
The Young Pope: Red is Communism. The Red Army. The Red Terror. The bloody revolutions that changed the world. But who financed them? Who moved the pieces?
George: You tell me.
The Young Pope: The Rothschilds. The Red Banking family. The original financiers of revolutions. Their name—Rothschild—literally means “Red Shield.” And what do we see in the video?
George: A wall of riot police, standing against a lone figure. Then—BOOM—red liquid explodes, consuming everything.
The Young Pope: Exactly. The police, the enforcers of order, drown in red. They work for the Red Shield, but in the end, the flood consumes them. The Pretender is not just a rebel. He is an unwitting actor in a grand, blood-soaked play written long before he was born.
George: You’re saying this isn’t just about standing up to authority?
The Young Pope: It’s about the cycle of revolution and control. The song screams resistance, but resistance is always funded by those who profit from chaos. The real Pretender? The one who appears to fight the system but unknowingly serves it.
George: Man, that’s heavy. So you’re saying Dave Grohl’s in on it?
The Young Pope: Oh no, Grohl is a musician, a prophet of rhythm and noise. But the game he sings about? That was set in motion long before the first power chord was ever struck.