Out with the old...
Posted on 03/15/2003 1:36:02 PM PST by Dallas
The lead singer of the Texas-based country trio the Dixie Chicks apologized Friday after telling a London audience she was "ashamed" of President Bush, remarks that stirred an uproar among conservative fans and prompted radio stations to boycott the group's songs.
"As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful," Natalie Maines said in a statement from Nashville, Tenn. "I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect."
The Grammy-winning trio found itself engulfed in a public relations nightmare after Maines criticized Bush's Iraq war policy during a London performance Monday and told the audience, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."
While anti-war groups endorsed Maines' position, the remarks provoked an outcry from politically conservative fans who form a lucrative pillar of support for the trio, who have been riding high after winning three Grammys last month.
"I think the response from the American people, particularly Texans and country music fans, pretty well speaks for itself," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan when asked for the president's reaction to Maines' statement.
Maines, who has never shied away from asserting her opinions, at first stood behind her views in a statement the Chicks posted on their Web site Friday. "I feel the president is ignoring the opinions of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world," she said. "My comments were made in frustration and one of the privileges of being an American is you are free to voice your own point of view."
But hours later, she retracted her remarks after radio talk-show hosts roasted the group and angry fans vowed to boycott their music.
Kevin Lane of Frontpage Publicity, the trio's publicist, said reaction ran "the gamut." "We're seeing faxes come in from both sides," he said.
Country stations nationwide were pulling the group's music. One station -- Shreveport's KRMD/101.1 FM -- told the Star-Telegram that it had received overwhelming listener support for the boycott. KRMD program director Bob Shannon added that at 11 a.m. today, the station would run over Chicks CDs at a farm-implement store near Bossier City.
"We're gonna collect 'em all and have a tractor smash 'em," Shannon said. He called it a "Chicks bash."
Mark Davis of WBAP/820-AM, a Fort Worth-Dallas news-talk station, demanded an apology and vowed to boycott the group's July 6 concert at the American Airlines Center in Dallas unless Maines withdraws her statement.
Davis, who described himself as a longtime fan, said the Chicks' lyrics stir up "down-home imagery" that casts the performers as "sensitive down-to-earth girls."
"These words show that the Dixie Chicks are not so very different from some of the loudmouth shrews in Hollywood, and that's tragic," he said.
The country-pop trio, who performed at Bush's 1995 second-term inauguration as governor, has a broad-based following that ranges from blue-collar workers to Texas politicians in Washington.
Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, evoked the group's song Long Time Gone in registering her disappointment: "I love them, but on this one, I think they've been long time gone, and they need to come back to Texas."
"This is a very unfortunate statement they made," she said. Nevertheless, Granger said she remains a fan and said she will continue to play her autographed CDs.
Another North Texas lawmaker wasn't so sure. Asked whether he is a Dixie Chicks fan, Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Highland Village, replied: "I was. I guess it'll be Faith Hill from now on," a reference to another country performer.
"Their audience is largely people just like me, and their constituents are very conservative Texans who hold their president in high regard," he said. "I don't think their remarks were well thought out."
In Fort Worth-Dallas, home to five country stations, listener response to Maines' comments was overwhelmingly negative. Many stations said they were pulling Chicks music or at least suspending it.
Arlington-based KSCS/96.3 FM solicited e-mails from listeners and by 3:15 p.m. Friday had received more than 3,300 e-mails -- more than 95 percent of them disagreeing with Maines' remarks. The station said it would forward the e-mails to the Dixie Chicks.
Paul Williams, program director of KSCS rival KPLX/99.5 FM "The Wolf," said his station has dropped the Chicks from its playlist in response to listener e-mails and phone calls. "I kind of associate it with when the Columbia crashed, we pulled the Mark Wills song off the air that mentioned the space shuttle falling out of the sky," Williams said. "It's sensitivity to your listeners and how they feel."
Bruce Kidder, morning-show host at Plano's KHYI/95.3 FM, said that he received so many calls about the flap during his Friday show that he eventually had to ask listeners to change the subject.
Not all stations pulled the Chicks music, even if their listeners -- or employees -- didn't like what Maines said.
"I certainly don't agree with Natalie Maines' sentiments or her choice of forum," said Dave Marcum, program director of KFWR/95.9 FM "The Ranch." "But I'll defend the right of every American to speak their mind. Country stars are just Americans with a bully pulpit."
Other musicians said they more or less agreed with what Maines said but not with the way she said it.
"I don't think I would have said it like that, that blatantly," said outlaw-country musician Ray Wylie Hubbard, who was at South by Southwest in Austin on Friday. "She didn't sugarcoat it at all. I'm sure she got a thunderous ovation. But the problem with irony is that not everyone gets it."
More than 100 actors, including Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Jessica Lange, oppose a military invasion as members of Artists United to Win Without War, a Los Angeles-based advocacy group that recently sponsored a virtual march on Washington.
Among those backing the president's call for military force against Iraq are an array of conservative entertainers, including actor Bruce Willis and comedian Dennis Miller.
- Her lawyer.
Too little, too late. You're fired! Get Shania on the phone!
Nothing like seeing the market at work.
How convenient -- and completely unbelievable. What she really means is, "Ooops, I got caught."
True, though you need to realize that to liberals being wrong is a minor infraction while being "insensitive" is a major crime.
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