Like clockwork, the conservative backlash to Beyoncé making country music has begun in earnest, and it's kicking off with the most triggered snowflake rant on rightwing news possible.
John Schneider, one of the stars of the '70s television show The Dukes of Hazzard, appeared on far-right propaganda network OAN to decry Beyoncé's alleged theft of a supposedly conservative art form.
That argument is mind-numbing on its face, but then he took it a step further by comparing Beyoncé and liberals in general to a dog peeing on a tree to mark its territory.
Schneider and OAN host Alison Steinberg railed against liberals and the entertainment industry, implying that they have allowed Beyoncé to steal country music from conservatives.
Steinberg said:
"The lefties in the entertainment industry just won't leave any area alone, right? They just have to seize control over every aspect, don't they?"
Seeing as the country music industry is part of the entertainment industry and is itself run by the same people Steinberg is complaining about, this is what's called a leading question and is not actual journalism.
In any case, Schneider immediately took the bait and took Steinberg's take one step further, adding:
"They've got to make their mark, like a dog at a dog walk park, you know every dog has to mark every tree, so that's what's going on here."
Apparently a Black woman making music in a genre Black people helped invent, including by literally bringing the banjo from Africa when they were trafficked to the U.S. and to the Caribbean as slaves, is threatening to White conservatives.
As you might guess, Schneider's hot take has not been popular with Beyoncé's fans.
@RonFilipkowski But Beyonce is from Texas \u2026..— (@)
@RonFilipkowski Beyonce is doing Blues/Americana which has DEEP African American roots. And she's brought some very special heavy hitters, within the genre, along for the ride to E-DU-MUH-CATE the Folk on the history. ;)\n\nWe know of Rhiannon Giddens, who I've been following for years, who was\u2026— (@)
@RonFilipkowski Cross overs are not new. Paul McCartney released a country song 50 years ago (Country Dreamer and Sally G)\u2026even the Stones had a huge country influence (Dead Flowers Far Away Eyes) so don\u2019t understand this about Beyonc\u00e9 unless it\u2019s because she\u2019s \u2026.— (@)
@RonFilipkowski Imagine gatekeeping a genre of music that black people created, imagine getting mad that a southern artist from Texas decided to go back to her roots. BTW This is not her first country song!!\nAnyways \ud83d\udc1d\ud83d\udc1d\ud83d\udc1d\ud83d\udc1d\ud83d\udc1d\ud83d\udc1d\n\nGet Beyonc\u00e9's new single #TEXASHOLDEM \u2014 available now everywhere.\u2026— (@)
Anyway, we would love to hear Schneider's hot take on far-right podcaster Ben Shapiro figuratively peeing on trees like a dog by venturing into rap.
