Country singer John Rich of Big and Rich has created an uproar of outrage here in Nashville and beyond by exposing himself as a bigot. After making his fame off the backs of gay and gay friendly folks, the homophobe announced on Nashville shock jock Steve Gill's radio show (listen here) that he is against gay marriage because it is "unnatural"-- like incest:
"I think if you legalize that, you've got to legalize some other things that are pretty unsavory. You can call me a radical, but how can you tell an aunt that she can't marry her nephew if they are really in love and sharing the bills? How can you tell them they can't get married, but something else that's unnatural can happen?"
"Unnatural" is one of the favorite words of homophobes and misogynists alike, and John Rich appears to be both. Guess what, Big Rich John? Nothing is more unnatural than raking in fame and fortune via unnatural MTV videos, not to mention those distressingly unnatural CD thingies. But see below for the "cure" some folks have in mind for you.
John Rich also revealed that he is more than a bigot; he is also a pro-lifer who supports Fred Thompson.
Big and Rich is a Warner Bros Records production. Howie Klein, formerly of Warner Bros has the story about the uproar created by the Big and Rich homophobe up at both Huffington Post (shorter version) and Down with Tyranny. Here's an excerpt:
Thursday I started getting barraged with e-mails from distraught former employees of mine all complaining about Big & Rich being homophobic.
It stems from half the duo, John Rich, going on a gay-bashing, Santorum-like jag for his political hero, Frederick of Hollywood. Rich is a regular commentator on Steve Gill's radio show in Nashville, where he spouts his Limbaughesque nonsense to an audience where marrying one's cousins and aunts is a lot more common than gay marriage. After a thorough tequila-fueled search for the most backward of the pathetic pygmies™ vying to personify a third George W Bush term, Rich has endorsed Thompson. And in a slap at the cousin-marrying Rudy Giuliani and at gay-Americans, he spouted off about gay marriage . . .
I suppose far more "natural" would be Rich's own lifestyle as an embarrassing and philandering slob. He may be hysterical and obsessive about his irrational zombie-like hatred for Hillary Clinton but reports from the road are that when he's got enough substances in him there isn't a woman breathing he doesn't try to jump on.
Gay employees and straight non-bigots at Warner Bros, and that pretty much accounts for almost everyone who works there, are pretty disappointed, to put it mildly... and I'm not the only one getting complaints. One person who has worked on the Big & Rich projects wrote, "I tend to support all of our artists unconditionally even when some of their politics don't necessarily coincide with mine. I have been made aware of comments made by Big and Rich and I must say this is a real blatant slap in the face and it's somewhat scary to think that I'm helping to make artists' voices such as theirs heard out in the world."
Another WB employee, an out front gay men, is torn between his disapproval of censorship and his disapproval of bigotry. He feels it's the company's duty-- their moral responsibility-- to take a public stand against this denigration of a class of people. "Rich's comments are not a political position, they are words of hatred that denounce an entire community and are taken as a personal attack on many of our families. CBS did not tolerate Imus's racist remarks against Blacks nor should we with Rich's remarks about gay families." [...]
I spoke with one of Tennessee's most influential and respected radio programmers. He was still dismayed today and he said most everyone he knows in the music business is as well. This is what he told me:
"Much of the Nashville music scene is ashamed of John. We have felt betrayed because many of us had embraced him and his mantra of love everybody. John has made a career on the backs of many people, and a lot of them are gay. More than anything, his hateful comments have hurt them and they feel especially betrayed. John is entitled to his opinion. However, comparing gay marriage to incest was unforgivable. I have urged those who feel as I do to stop buying his records and songs that he writes."
Hat tip to Pam at Pam's House Blend
Graphic via Down with Tyranny
Update: John Rich has issued a statement claiming he believes that "intolerance, bigotry and hatred are wrong."
Hmm. Well, I Guess I Was Wrong
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