John Rich. I don’t know whether to be grateful that he has managed to say something so shocking that it knocked the flood out of my brain for a second or just skip the grateful and go right to the flabbergasted.
At this point, he’s really almost cartoonish in his villainy.
Wright said she got hit over the head by the rumors in 2005 when confronted by country singer John Rich, half of the million-selling duo Big & Rich.
“John said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to hit this gay thing head on, you’re not gay, are you? If you are, people won’t have it. It’s sick, it’s deviant; it’s unacceptable to country music fans.’
“I lied, and I knew I had gone from not talking about it to ‘Now I’m a liar.’ ”
That last part breaks my heart, but who can blame her for lying when confronted with such aggressive assholery?
Tiny Cat Pants 
What he told Wright almost sounds like a mantra.
At any rate, I like Braisted’s suggestions on how to handle it.
What were his suggestions? Did they include cold-cocking the guy?
Doing like with Noriega and blaring Lady Gaga nonstop until Rich cracks, or setting up a spotlight pointed at Rich’s house from the park across the street and have two dudes cast their silhouettes on the house while they get frisky.
(I vote both.)
Eh, Rich is not a musical prude, so he’d probably have fun with the Lady Gaga tunes. But idea #2 is awesome.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113933951979273&v=info
whoops.. wrong copy and paste above.
Every city needs a villain. Metropolis had Lex Luther. Nashville has John Rich.
Eh, ya know … I heard Chely Wright was gay long before 2005. I heard it way back in the ’90s. Hell, everyone in country music knew it. We all knew it. No one cared, not in the industry at least. It’s the fans who are so fucked up about this stuff. If everyone wasn’t so worried about what the fans would say with this phony “small town values” crap we keep hearing, I daresay people like Chely (and over on the CCM side, Jennifer Knapp) wouldn’t be forced to live a lie. And you know, I can’t think of a crappier way to treat a fellow human being than telling them there is something wrong with them to their core and they have to pretend to be something they’re not.
I mean, I’m not going to out anyone but there are LOTS of closeted gay artists in the country and Christian music worlds. And call me cynical but I really think no one gives a shit as long as those artists are making money. No one cared when Chely had hits like “Single White Female.”
People need to stop obsessing over this stuff. Here’s a news flash for country fans: there are gays and lesbians out in the world. Your neighbors, your co-workers, your family members. Everyone knows someone who is gay, Stop pretending you don’t. You just need to get over it. Stop treating a huge chunk of the population like they are less than human.
I can imagine John Rich doing an ass-kicking version of “Teeth,” now that you mention it. [edited the name on this comment, because, no matter how much she wants us to, we are not all coming to her family reunion! Okay, maybe. Will there be potato salad? We’re going to need to know there’s potato salad before we commit.–b.]
Damn right there will be potato salad — several kinds, probably some with yellow mustard and diced eggs and onion, but none served warm and vinegary because that’s a German thing.
But honestly, you could save your time and just go watch the new documentary on the Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia…same dynamics, different state.
I’m not sure that all that many of the fans care, either. But those who do turn it into a huge public issue.
But I’m so shocked at Bridgett not liking German potato salad that I may never buy any of her music again.
But nm…I do like German tater salad, but it was an acquired taste. My husband makes a pretty good German potato salad, but it was not part of my natal family’s foodways.
(And this is not a case of going from not talking about it to lying about it.)
Oh, so it’s just your family that has these hangups? I never knew before how much more broadminded we were in the midwest.
I guess there’s no way to know whether John Rich actually shares the prejudices of his audience or simply falsely attributes his own ideas to them. But I bet he doesn’t like German potato salad, because I can’t find any that’s any good around here.