The singer-songwriter behind “Rich Men North of Richmond” responded to the use of his song for a question at the first Republican presidential primary debate by Fox News.
Oliver Anthony, whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford, posted the comments in a video on his YouTube channel on Friday.
“You know, the one thing that has bothered me is seeing people wrap politics up into this,” said Anthony on his video.
“I’m disappointed to see, like, it’s aggravating to see people on conservative news try to identify with me, like I’m one of them. It’s aggravating seeing certain musicians and politicians act like we’re buddies and act like we’re fighting the same struggle here,” he explained.
“Like we’re trying to present the same message,” Anthony added.
“I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me, and I’ve tried to be polite to everybody. I’ve talked to hundreds of people the last two weeks. It seems like certain people want to just ride the attention of the song and maybe make their own selves relevant, and that’s aggravating as hell,” he continued.
“The other thing that I find aggravating is, well, you know it was funny seeing my song in the presidential debate, because it’s like, I wrote that song about those people! You know, for them to have so sit there and listen to that, uh, that cracks me up!” he laughed.
“But it was funny kinda seeing their response to it. That song has nothing to do with Joe Biden! You know? It’s a lot bigger than Joe Biden. That song is written about the people on that stage,” Anthony concluded. “And lot more too, not just them, but definitely them.”
He went on in the video to say that he was being forced into a political classification by both conservatives and those on the left but that he rejected the labeling.
“This isn’t a Republican and Democrat thing, this isn’t even a United States thing. This has been a global response, and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise,” he added.
Some on the right were also disappointed when Anthony made comments in support of diversity, saying it was what made the country strong.
Anthony has previously said his use of the stage name is in honor of his grandfather. He also claimed that he has rejected $8 million deals from shocked music executives.
Here’s the video of his comments:
It’s a pleasure to meet you – part 2www.youtube.com
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