Music Feuds Aside, Good on Blake for Squaring Off with Westboro
Look, I like Blake Shelton like I like a trip to the proctologist. He’s got to be the leading contender for the biggest tool in corporate country music right now. He torqued me and many others off earlier this year when he characterized classic country fans as “Old Farts and Jacksasses,” and his country rap abominations are the scourge of the genre.
But qualifying points aside, in the end it is just music, and like the Wylie Coyote and the sheepdog in the old Looney Tunes cartoon punching the clock at the end of the day and putting aside their differences, sometimes you need to see the bigger picture. These Westboro Baptist Church turds beat all, and so good on Blake Shelton for taking the game to them and telling them what for.
Westboro has been targeting the singer and reality show judge through Twitter, calling him a “vulgar adulterer” for divorcing his first wife Kaynette Williams and marrying fellow country star Miranda Lambert. They also blamed him for gay marriage becoming legal in several states, and announced their intent to picket his upcoming concert in Kansas City on October 3rd.
So in typical BS fashion, Blake twisted off on them via Twitter, saying, “Hey WBC.. I’ve got one more sin for ya… Blow me. This isn’t about God. This is about using this opportunity to to make y’all look like the absolute complete dipshits you are.”
Blake is in a growing line of stars that are turning the tables on Westboro as opposed to standing and taking their abuse. A couple of weeks ago Vince Gill accosted Westboro Baptist protesters outside of his show in Kansas City, and pop star Ke$ha had her line dancers deliver a dancing beat down of Westboro protesters in August.
War makes strange bed fellows, and aside from being dipshits, Westboro has been making it worse lately by becoming some strange, sadistic version of celebrity crotch sniffers. As if Blake Shelton’s, or any other celebrity’s sins equate any more than the rest of ours.
Screw these recidivists and their worn out bit. I’m on Team Blake with this one.
September 26, 2013 @ 6:44 pm
Agree! Those Wackjobs picketed Carrie Underwood’s concert in Kansas City too, and were rude to the fans walking in, calling them names and accusing them of supporting Carrie’s sinful support of gays etc. They went after Carrie because she publicly supported gays. So they have been on her ever since, and they annoy me to no end. They are horrible people- and if that is a “church”– it is a Church of Satan in my book. They disrespect the name Church!
September 26, 2013 @ 7:47 pm
They sure as hell don’t want to make Eric Church aaaaaaaannnnngggrrrrryyyyyyyyyy….. 😉
September 26, 2013 @ 7:35 pm
I know two wrongs don’t make a right but it’s amazing to me those idiots haven’t been subjected to severe violence yet. I understand things aren’t the way they used to be but I think it’s only a matter of time before one or more of them is seriously injured or worse.
September 26, 2013 @ 7:43 pm
Actually, they have.
In 2006, a Delaware man assaulted several Westboro Baptist Church protestors.
Besides that, yeah, it is surprising. But as Trigger has rightfully cautioned and urged, violence should not be tolerated in any way, shape or form regardless of how much of a douche the subject(s) is/are. And at the very, very, veeeeerrrrrrryyyyy least…………….we have got to be absolutely relieved that the Westboro Baptist Church haven’t used physical violence in their protests (at least from what I’ve heard).
Of course, verbal and emotional violence should never be allowed either. Many scientific studies have confirmed verbal abuse is no less damaging than physical abuse. And THAT underscores why the Westboro Baptist Church are the most hated family in America.
September 29, 2013 @ 9:11 am
Agreed. I’m not advocating anyone do this. Let me repeat, I am not advocating anyone do this. But I am surprised that with the number of mass shootings that have happened at late, not one of the shooters aimed for WBC.
September 26, 2013 @ 7:35 pm
The BBC reported in 2011 that several high-profile members have left the Westboro Baptist Church, so they’re eroding as a functioning entity thankfully.
I don’t wish to talk about them much longer here because, frankly, these idiots shouldn’t have been dignified a response in the first place in that they expect us to galvanize publicity on their behalf. I’ve even researched that there have been a few times where they cancelled events after media outlets agreed to offer them air time in return; thus underscoring that they are narcissistic attention seekers foremost.
The two only other things is, firstly, 1) good for Canada and the United Kingdom from barring them from entering their countries, and 2) should they inconceivably defy the odds and live long enough to picket my funeral, know I’ll be resting and basking in my most consummate genderqueer, queer-supportive, sex-positive, religious freedom supporting glory and I would be honored to have all my dear friends honor me in celebrating all of the above! ^__^
September 27, 2013 @ 6:33 am
Huzzah !
// close thread
September 27, 2013 @ 7:03 pm
These inbred daddy lovers were protesting in St Louis a couple years ago, my brother and I had to walk by them on our way to the Cardinal game. One of them asked us “are you fags?”. Kinda wanted to open that whoopass can, but these brave souls were surrounded by chain link fence, and a large contingent of St Louis’ finest. I asked one of the officers if my brother and I could go into their pen to “discuss”, but the officer just laughed, said that we weren’t the first to make that request. He said if it were up to him, he’d let us have at it, but he had to protect their right to make asses of themselves. They are pretty much a big waste of air that I might need down the road. Get ’em Blake!
September 28, 2013 @ 12:59 am
Undoubtedly Westboro has a horrible message, but I think this article gives Shelton too much credit. Almost anyone could have said just about the same thing, heck I could have told them off too.
On a side note I read that Westboro protested Taylor Swift, casting doubt on her “good girl” image.
Oh and by the way it has been said that a broken clock is right twice a day.
September 28, 2013 @ 1:22 pm
I tend to agree.
What would make him more deserving of credit is if he openly champions sexual equality and same-sex marriage rights.
Among corporate country acts, you’d be hard-pressed to find vocal supporters of same-sex marriage (especially among men). Obviously Kacey Musgraves is leading the charge. We also know Carrie Underwood first threw her support vocally behind same-sex marriage in May of last year. We do know two-thirds of the Dixie Chicks, in the form of Court Yard Hounds, released a song titled “Ain’t No Son” about a frightened young boy that comes out to his father, and not only judges him but ultimately murders him……………which clearly points to sympathy if not outright support for the GLBTQI community. And according to country singer Chely Wright, who first came out last year………Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood and Naomi Judd are privately supportive.
*
But among men of the genre?
It’s a woefully silent landscape.
Willie Nelson comes quickest to my mind. He not only contributed “He Was a Friend of Mine” to the “Brokeback Mountain” soundtrack, but said: “Gay or straight? So what? It doesn’t matter to me. We have to be concerned about other people, regardless. I don’t like seeing anybody treated unfairly. It sticks in my craw. I hold on to the values from my childhood.” Short of an endorsement for marriage equality, but undoubtedly a declaration of support to the community.
Toby Keith comes next. He did tell CMT Insider in a 2011 interview: “First of all, we’re going to stop somebody from getting a marriage license because they’re gay? You won’t stop them from living together, so what have you accomplished? … Wasting a lot of money here and a lot of time that could be spent working on this deficit that we’re under … I never saw the reasoning behind getting in people’s personal lives.”
That says enough to lead me to believe he is supportive of the GLBTQI community, yet even Keith falls short of championing this cause. His statement still sounds too cautious and calculated. And if he truly believed that same-sex marriage was never an issue to him, then why didn’t he acknowledge this at the height of his popularity during the “Shock’N Y’all” era a decade ago?
Then we have Tim McGraw, who did appear in a 2010 comedy titled “Dirty Girl” that, as lousy as it was, at the very least scratched the surface on issues pertaining to the GLBTQI community. Still, his role was a smaller one and doesn’t say enough about where he actually stands in the broader sense.
*
Outside of that, at least in the established corporate country sphere, most men don’t have the guts to speak out.
And honestly, it’s easy to see why. They’ve bought into this hyper-masculinized braggadocio balderdash, this ultra-patriarchal douchery. Many of them know in the backs of their minds that if they were to vocally advocate for sexual equality that 1) even with the assured shifting public opinion on the issue toward sexual equality, they would still irritate if not alienate a considerable fraction of their key demographic, and 2) they would face intense public scrutiny about being gay themselves, and to them it is stigmatizing, perhaps even shameful, for whatever reason.
We’ve seen incessant rumors trotted out from the gossip mill of Kenny Chesney being a closet homosexual over the years, to this very day for instance. It’s obviously understandable why Chesney gets rather defensive every time the rumors are addressed to him time and again, but on the other hand it reveals how he believes the risk outweighs the reward in hypothetically going all-out and proclaiming he is a fierce proponent of same-sex marriage.
Meanwhile, one thing entertainers like Jason Aldean, Justin Moore and Eric Church take great pride in is how “macho” they are; in the bad-boy caricature. Sure, they all have a “sensitive side” too, but you can tell they are quite careful in making decisions as to what kind of tracks to cut to express that side in a way that won’t undermine their street cred, that rough and gruff image. And even though in heart all three may quite well be supporters of the GLBTQI community, much like Chesney, they lack the guts to declare it because they fear the consequences among their core listening demographic.
*
I think Shelton finds himself in the same scenario here. But if he surprises me by mentioning in a speech to the press in Kansas City on October 3rd that he is an ardent proponent of same-sex marriage and sexual equality while calling out the Westboro Baptist Church…………….then he will deserve far more credit.
September 28, 2013 @ 8:27 am
It’s nice to have them to remind us that on the grand scale of douchetasm Jason Aldean is so far down (up?) the scale you can’t see him from where they are.
The biggest argument for free speech I know is that it allows us to easily identify the true morons amoung us. This group is an extreme case in point.
September 28, 2013 @ 10:56 am
Big deal, everyone hates the Westboro Baptist Church.
Blake Shelton is just trying to improve his tarnished image.
September 28, 2013 @ 12:19 pm
I don’t think Blake believes his image is tarnished whatsoever.
September 28, 2013 @ 1:31 pm
I’m sure you’re right.
His current album “Based on a True Story…” will be the best-selling album of his career when all is said and done (which says a lot considering how his first five studio albums all failed to go Platinum) and he is basically deified along with Miranda Lambert among the Nashville establishment.
Shelton may be the closest dictionary definition of a “sellout” in country music, and an arrogant douche……………..but there’s no question Shelton is at his commercial peak at this moment in time. I still believe the vast majority of his sellout material will be long forgotten in no more than five years time, but Blake Shelton sounds as comfortable and confident as I’ve ever recalled him being.
September 29, 2013 @ 3:58 pm
foo fighters vs. WBC.. super funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e5hRLbCaCs
September 29, 2013 @ 4:59 pm
That’s my single favorite response directed to them to date.
It’s one thing to merely let your detractors know your opinion of them, but it’s a whole other degree of accomplishment when you make them look so stupid and clueless and set them up as the punchline.
The Foo Fighters achieved this in spades. You can tell by the looks on many of their faces that they thought it was a whole other band replacing the Foo Fighters. Hilarious! 😉
October 3, 2013 @ 8:15 am
Matthew 7:1-5
Judging Others
7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother”™s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ”˜Let me take the speck out of your eye,”™ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother”™s eye.
Just Saying….