Nickelback Hopes Their TIFF Doc Will Stop The 'Bullies' & Questions About Being 'Hated'

Nickelback's new documentary Hate to Love: Nickelback is premiering at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and they have a message to share about all the negativity they've received.

On Friday, September 8, Narcity caught up with members of the band on the TIFF red carpet where they got candid about the hate.

"You deal with bullies in school, then you get out of school and you deal with bullies and you join a band and all of these people in the media that say 'Don't bully, don't bully, don't bully' are the ones doing all of the bullying and there needs to be some reflection there," Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger said.

"Like take a look in the mirror and don't run around and say, 'Don't bully, don't bully, don't bully' and then spit the hate that you do," Kroeger continued. "I mean the irony is quite substantial."

According to TIFF, the documentary takes a look at "the band haters most love to hate" and how the negativity took on a life of its own and led to band members getting harassed on the street and their kids getting bullied at school.

Kroger gave Narcity a small glimpse of what that feels like.

"If somebody stuck [a microphone] in your face every single day, and said 'The whole world hates you [...] what do you have to say about that?'" Kroeger gave as an example. "Every single day, every day? Would there be reluctance on your behalf to talk about it? Would you get pissed off?"

Kroeger says he's "over it" and will no longer allow those kinds of questions.

"We made a documentary," he said. "Everybody can watch it. And now from this day forward, if anybody asks that question in the press, it's like that's the end of the interview."

Fair enough!

On Friday evening, Nickelback will be performing a free concert at 7 p.m. on King Street.

TIFF is on until September 17, so if you're looking to do some star-spotting, there's still time!

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.