10/21/2009
NC Country Singer Banned After Slamming Gays at Fall Festival
Local country singer Matt Boswell and his Hillbilly Blues Band have been banned from city performances in Reidsville, NC after injecting a Merle Haggard song with his own homophobic lyrics while performing at the city's Fall Festival.
Boswell's lyrics? "Well you’ll never take my guns, and I’ll pray anywhere that I please / My daddy always told me, if you were able, and didn’t work then you don’t eat / All you Wall Street bankers, as far as I’m concerned, you can all go to Hell / And you can’t get married, you stupid gays and queers, so why don’t you go somewhere else?”
Watch the performance, which I've clipped to the inappropriate segment, AFTER THE JUMP...
(via pam)
Posted 10:50 AM EST by Andy Towle in Gay Slurs, Matt Boswell, News, North Carolina | Permalink
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And conservatives claim that liberals are the ones who are paranoid and sowing seeds of fear and dissension and hatred. Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Posted by: Dback | Oct 21, 2009 10:56:48 AM
who cares about this person?
what i find interesting and encouraging is that he was banned in north carolina for this.
Posted by: johnosahon | Oct 21, 2009 10:57:54 AM
And the South wonders why the rest of the country looks at them as uneducated buffoons. I used to live in Reidsville and although it was kind of country, they were some of the nicest people I've had the pleasure to know. I feel sorry they have to be associated with this idiot.
Posted by: Bob | Oct 21, 2009 10:58:03 AM
does yon stupid twit have a website or youtube channel?
queers buy country too, asshole.
Posted by: jack | Oct 21, 2009 11:00:07 AM
Well, he's a poet.. NOT!!!
And that turquoise shirt.. now THAT'S GAY!!!
Posted by: Darren | Oct 21, 2009 11:00:48 AM
his lyrics are as clumsy and sophomoric as his reasoning.
"all you stupid gays and queers?"
is he 12 years old?
Posted by: elcamino | Oct 21, 2009 11:03:30 AM
As sad as this is, the YouTuber who posted this video sure has a problem with pushing negative regional stereotypes of his own, according to his commentary. Substitute any gay stereotype you like for his words, and it sounds just as sour as Mr. Boswell's lyrics, if not more so. If we can't elevate above the same trash thinking and negative stereotyping that is used against us, we're never going to get everywhere, and we sure aren't going to win any friends with classist attitudes like that. I know quite a few rural gay men and women, and rural straight folk that don't have a problem with them, and looking down our nose at them while we sip a latte and preen around calling everyone "redneck" isn't going to win us any votes from the mainstream we are desperately trying to win over. Two wrongs make two wrongs, and we've got to elevate, educate, and take the high road always.
Posted by: Mitch Shea | Oct 21, 2009 11:06:47 AM
God that scene was a sad sight to see.
Posted by: Wes | Oct 21, 2009 11:07:33 AM
Great--now this hayseed will become a hero of the haters. He'll be headlining the next teabagging rally with Carrie Prejean. A much better approach would be just to ignore these idiots.
Posted by: Charles | Oct 21, 2009 11:08:18 AM
On the bright side, it did not look like that many citizens of Reidsville were in the audience. The town may get a better turnout for a better CW singer.
And Darren, don't knock the shirt for being "gay." One of the things I like about Western wear is its kitch fashion sense. ; )
Posted by: Voet | Oct 21, 2009 11:18:41 AM
at least he's not a talented bigot
Posted by: Wes | Oct 21, 2009 11:28:27 AM
"let's ring the leather-ty bell"???
Posted by: dm10003 | Oct 21, 2009 11:31:39 AM
On the really bright side, this is what we're up against, people.
Posted by: JeffRob | Oct 21, 2009 11:33:06 AM
His parents must be so proud. I think it speaks well for the people of NC that banned his sorry talentless ass.
As for this hatred being a southern redneck thing, that's wrong. As was proven by the two thugs who put that guy in a coma here in good old NYC.
Posted by: patrick nyc | Oct 21, 2009 11:47:13 AM
Thank goodness this casual, but recurrent and rampant, homophobia is being documented.
Believing in kharma is very sustaining.
Posted by: interested bystander | Oct 21, 2009 12:01:27 PM
It definitely says good things for North Carolina that they banned this guy's sorry ass. Way to go!
Posted by: seattle mike | Oct 21, 2009 12:01:47 PM
This is comedy gold really
Posted by: Joshua Ackley | Oct 21, 2009 12:03:56 PM
such a super straight guy:
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/19/l_3c6e27440e3444d691acb8f5da6b5e0f.jpg
I wouldn't want to meet this big ol' country boy in a dark alley
...oh wait, i probably have....
;)
Posted by: marco | Oct 21, 2009 12:23:17 PM
he has a real purty mouth.
Posted by: dards44444 | Oct 21, 2009 12:24:33 PM
Why even give this no talent POS any publicity at all? He's an idiot and the people listening look like something out of Deliverance.
Posted by: Bobby | Oct 21, 2009 12:26:42 PM
It's encouraging that the state that elected Jesse Helms not too long ago is now a BLUE State. Asheville, in the western part of the state (near Reidsville) has often been called "the SF of the East" & the high-tech research triangle region of Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill has long been a center of enlightenment.
The GOP pundits love to call the USA a "center-right" country, but we see progress in some unlikely spots every day.
Posted by: JONNY NYNY2FLFL | Oct 21, 2009 12:31:23 PM
Yes, this (and the approving audience members) is what we are up against. Kinda sad on our part that we can't seem to overcome such ignorance more easily, but that's human nature.
What I hate about the south is the mindless, automatic patriotism and blind respect for authority that, too, is seen in the north but at only a fraction of the intensity. That, and the automatic coupling of the bible and the constitution.
Posted by: Willig | Oct 21, 2009 12:40:24 PM
I love how the audience is sprinkled with obese folks.
Posted by: Ever | Oct 21, 2009 12:56:54 PM
This guy was banned from performing "city performances." From the looks of the article, that would imply that he won't be playing any city-sponsored events anymore; he's free to continue performing in local bars and KKK rallies.
In the end, there's a segment of people who would love to support this guy because of his lyrics. But if he's looking for fame - and, more importantly, fortune - he'll realize that being connected to hate lyrics is a sure-fire way to get neither in the long run.
Posted by: Tommy | Oct 21, 2009 1:06:39 PM
The comments here should tell us everything we need to know about this guy, and why he is popular, and why we AS A PEOPLE can't get anywhere. As usual, we make fun of the guy's audience for being obese, in the KKK, "mindless" and "blind" Southerners, and "out of Deliverance". This kind of attitude isn't going to get us anywhere if we are continually acting like self-righteous elite assholes, ruining any chance we want to have with the very people and demographic that we desperately want to hear our message and look upon us as regular PEOPLE. It makes me sick that some of you sit here and let your elitist, classist, regional stereotypes fly instead of using your fucking brains and waking up to the fact that we have to quit thinking that mindset if we want to get anywhere. I guess in Iowa, where voters are on our side, they're just a bunch of "corn farmer rednecks" and "small-minded small-town hicks". Right? Have any of you even been to North carolina and seen the changes that have taken place there in 10 years? But that doesn't prevent any of you from showing the world the worst we have to offer. Typical. Just fucking typical.
Posted by: Mitch Shea | Oct 21, 2009 1:17:02 PM