Posted on 09/05/2018 10:09:52 AM PDT by servo1969
A country music singer on record as calling NRA supporters whores and pimps will headline a Karl Dean for Governor event in Nashville Thursday.
The singer in question, Will Hoge, said he has disdain for pro-Second Amendment politicians.
No one at Dean's campaign returned The Tennessee Star's repeated requests for comment on the matter Tuesday. The Star wanted to know if Dean's views align with Hoge's.
Hoge previously endorsed U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for United States president.
Hoge called the NRA "a fear-mongering, bully organization" in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
"They are the worst things about America: a rich organization, led by horrible people, preying on some of the best people in our country with fear and lies, just to grow their own profits," Hoge said.
"I've got to believe that at some point all responsible gun owners will see what a sham that organization truly is."
Hoge wrote the following lyrics for his song "Thoughts and Prayers":
"Another politician sitting far away
Doesn't matter how many people got gunned down today
As long as you can keep your re-election bills paid
You're just a whore to the pimp that's called the NRA"
Hoge also told the magazine how he feels about people who ask for thoughts and prayers after a mass shooting.
"They have all the opportunities in the world to make a difference, but they do nothing," Hoge said.
"Then to just send out a phrase like 'thoughts and prayers,' as if we don't all know that there is something they could do? It's shameful."
Hoge is active on Facebook and Twitter.
On both accounts, he spends a great deal of time lambasting U.S President Donald Trump and calling members of Trump's administration liars.
In one post, he endorsed a book calling for the federal government to enact a universal basic income, on the grounds that it will end poverty.
Let me guess, some of the wannabe country that is vomited into the airwaves.
A Chixie Dick......................
A real POS:
I know some of y’all feel that my posts have become ‘too political’. My apologies. In an attempt at an olive branch, please help me select which of these 2 looks you would prefer for the tour for the new album starting Sept. 18th. Thanks y’all. #myamericandream
Then he posts two identical photos, showing him in Have A NIKE Day T shirts
Rolling Stone recently chatted with the outspoken Hoge - who also called for the removal of the Confederate flag in “Still a Southern Man” - about his new song, the NRA and why the country music industry is reluctant to have a dialogue about guns and the Second Amendment.
Were you scared to write a song that’s so explicitly political?
Hoge - I don’t think so. There’s a Cesar Cruz quote that hangs in my wife’s office that helps a bunch in these moments: “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” When I have doubts, or fears, or questions, that always shines a bit of a light.
Do you think there will eventually be more artists who will begin to speak out publicly on gun control?
Hoge - Not every artist needs to be Bob Dylan or Woody Guthrie. We need good country heartbreak and whiskey songs. So I truly do understand the artist who doesn’t talk about politics and just wants to be an artist that entertains. That’s totally fine with me. The issue is the artists who do want to say something being chastised for it. If someone has something to say that is well thought-out and educated and is going to provoke an actual conversation, they should feel comfortable doing that. To have a genre of music where people don’t even feel comfortable being able to have that conversation, whether they’re pro-gun or anti-gun, it’s a sad place to operate from as an artist. Hopefully that starts to change. [Woody Guthrie was a Communist according to his longtime friend Pete Seeger.]
Are you hopeful that it might actually change?
Hoge - You do start to hear more and more people who are, at least in their own small circles, starting to say, ‘Man, this is really scary. My guns wouldn’t have helped at all in [Las Vegas].’ So that’s a least a small step in the right direction.
Why did you zero in on the phrase “thoughts and prayers” as a way to discuss this topic?
Hoge - “Thoughts and prayers” is not a replacement for something actionable that would help keep our fellow Americans and our children safe. I’m curious how these politicians even sleep at night or how they look their kids and grandkids in the eyes anymore.
How deep are cultural ties between guns and country music? Is that why this is so hard to talk about?
Hoge - That’s part of it. It’s incredibly ingrained in the culture down here. I think as Americans, we live in a gun culture, whether we like it or not. As a gun owner myself, I’m not anti-gun, but there are just logical things we need to do. [He’s a FUDD.]
Before Las Vegas, were you aware of NRA Country, the subset of the NRA that forms partnerships with country singers?
Hoge - I’m very anti-NRA, and I had thought I had made that abundantly clear personally and career-wise, but I had been approached by NRA Country about featuring one of my songs, “Strong,” and I wasn’t willing to do that. That’s not an organization I want anything to do with.
Do you have friends in the business who have worked with NRA Country?
Hoge - I do, and it’s tough. When you’re a young artist and you can’t get anybody to even review your record, you look at it like, ‘Hey, here’s a marketing opportunity for me to get in front of millions of country music fans.’ I think that’s innocent for a lot of people. They’re hunters or they’re sportsman and they enjoy shooting, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s exploitative in a lot of ways. The NRA uses you and your image and your music to go out and spout their B.S.
How would you summarize what you are trying to communicate with “Thoughts & Prayers”?
Hoge - This song is really just me working out my own frustrations about our grossly negligent elected officials and about a fear-mongering, bully organization like the NRA. They are the worst things about America: a rich organization, led by horrible people, preying on some of the best people in our country with fear and lies, just to grow their own profits. I’ve got to believe that at some point all responsible gun owners will see what a sham that organization truly is. So, if there are any hopes for me in this song, I’d suppose it is that: that maybe just more common-sense gun owners will speak up and stop being used by people who, in the end, care nothing about us or our families.
A country music star ranting about the evil of the NRA and gun ownership is akin to a hip hop singer telling his audience they need to stop smoking weed, go back to school, use birth control and get off welfare.
“Never heard of him”
Me either. Hoge/Hogg? A country singer? Noy for long.
The only way I can think of to respond to this dipstick, since I have no idea who he is, is to make a contribution to the NRA. (I have been a life member since 1978.) At least he’s not advocating for the execution of all members as I have heard in the past.
Sounds like a nutcase who needs some serious mental help.
Go buy a gun this weekend. Go crazy and buy 2. Buy American made gun products. Federal ammo. Hoppee gun cleaning. Uncle Mikes holsters. Buy a gun. Buy a scary one that is black. Buy one with the idea that you are doing so because the 2nd amendment is in place to protect the populace and individual from an onerous government, not for hunting, not for self defense. Buy more guns and send a message.
Not even close. The worst thing about America is the Democrat Party.
If I was intending to take over the USA I would send agent provocateurs in to vigorously campaign agent the RKBA.
I would also promote racism, disruptive sociological symbolism and import third-world cultures to foment disunity within the population.
A country musician? His career will be very short. I don’t get these people.
A country musician? His career will be very short. I don’t get these people.
I will just bet his bodyguards aren’t caryying scissors
I guess he’s the next Steve Earle.
New Country is a joke.
SO TRUE!! this crap they call country sounds like 80’s nightclub music not country.
Nothing lower than a gun grabbing cuck.
I wish, just once, these self important low information fools would give specific examples of their charges against us. For example, when and how did the NRA monger fear or bully? They won’t because they can’t. But it sure plays well among others of the self important, low information persuasion.
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