It would be nice to go a day without a reminder why we are fighting so hard to change the landscape of country music but country music can’t go a day without exposing itself for being a hot pot for some of the worst parts of our society. The racism in country music isn’t some deep dark secret they ever try to hide, it’s the blood coursing through it’s veins, keeping it alive. It’s not a one-off fan in the middle of Wisconsin wearing a tin foil hat yelling about missing the slavery days of yore, it’s one of, if not the most, prolific country music radio hosts of all time. It’s Bobby Bones. The voice of the silent majority, apparently.
Bobby took it upon himself to speak up for Morgan Wallen on the morning of July 14. You know, because after he got caught saying the N word and then suffered the severe consequences of becoming one of the best selling artists, he clearly needed someone to step in on his behalf. His comments were blood boiling for anyone with a pulse that understands why racism is bad. (The bar is low these days. Super low.)
“I’m a big believer in second chances, I’ve had a few. When I got fined a million dollars by the FCC, there’s no reason I should’ve been back on the air.” — Bobby Bones
First of all, playing around on your radio show and getting fined by the FCC and slinging racial slurs are not comparable offenses. The notion that choosing to participate in racist behavior is just an oopsie that you should get a second chance for without any meaningful, realistic effort towards change is exactly why it continues to happen. Should Morgan Wallen get a second chance? If you ask me personally, I’m going to say no. Why keep dragging racists up from the mud so that they can sling it at me again? Not interested. But I get that stance is looked at as a bit harsh. Okay, so let’s talk about a second chance. Where do you start? Well, you certainly don’t start with ghosting the NAACP. You CERTAINLY don’t start with sending out all of your Black friends to do your dirty PR work and plea with the public about how you’ve “privately apologized.” AND YOU CERTAINLY DON’T START WITH A PERFORMANCE AT KID ROCK’S BAR. Morgan is raking in cash, fishing with Eric Church in goofy looking golf shirts, and having a blast. He’s suffered no consequences and he’s offered no genuine efforts towards accountability. That’s where a second chance starts.
“If I could say something to the CMA Board, don’t listen to the vocal minority, listen to the silent majority.” — Bobby Bones
If I could say something to the CMA board, here’s your chance to choose what side of history you fall on. You can choose to stand with the vocal minority saying that racism has no place in country music or you can sit down and give Morgan Wallen awards and let us know that you don’t care.
Many times public figures will use coded language or dog whistles to get across their racist points in a way that feels more palatable to a broader audience. This one is pretty cut and dry though. It’s very clear that the “vocal minority” here is obviously Black people and Bobby would very much appreciate it if we would go back to shutting up. Well, at least we know they hear us.
“Let’s all just hold hands, the whole country music community and move on until we are told not to.” — Bobby Bones
Hey, hello, hi! It’s me telling the whole country music community not to. Though I suppose he did not mean us. It’s quite clear we are not included in the “let us all” because there’s no way a person in their right mind would expect Black people to just shake off the racism and hold hands and move forward with the very people contributing to the environment that bred the racism in the first place.
“If he comes out and does something else ridiculous, then we kind of have to re-evaluate and go well ok maybe this isn’t for him.” — Bobby Bones
Maybe Bobby doesn’t have access to functioning Wi-Fi but this is not the first ridiculous thing Morgan has done. It’s not his first national controversy. “Let’s see if he does anything else” is what everyone said when he was kicked off of Saturday Night Live for not following COVID-19 protocols but maybe being racist doesn’t count as ridiculous to Bobby?
This display of blatant racism, these dismissive comments, his attitude towards the few of us who are using our voices to try to make some change is sickening.
The racist house of Bobby Bones will likely not fall despite the bones being rotten because they’ve got the strength of an industry and a whole country of racism holding it up. His attitude represents that of most of the industry. “So there was a little racism, who cares? We certainly don’t, that’s totally our thing!” But we will be building our home beside it. And no, we will not be quiet in the face of racism. We will not hold hands and move on. We will not “just get over it.” Nice to meet you Bobby, we’re you’re new neighbors. Get used to it.
