Hot 100 Leader Oliver Anthony Music Sparks Backlash From Republicans – Billboard

Oliver Anthony Music is the king of nation proper now, and it could seem that he’s utilizing his recent platform to convey folks collectively. But a few of his early supporters are hitting again at his requires unity and variety.

The U.S. artist’s breakout viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, in doing so making him the primary artist ever to launch atop the checklist with no prior chart historical past in any kind.

Since topping the tally, the Farmville, Va.-based singer-songwriter and former manufacturing facility employee, born Christopher Anthony Lunsford (whose stage title honors his grandfather, Oliver Anthony) has saved quiet on his social accounts.

Though he did give an interview with Fox News which, like his fashionable track, has gone viral.

“We are the melting pot of the world,” he says within the interview, which came about at his live performance in Moyock, N.C. on Saturday (Aug. 19). “And that’s what makes us strong, our diversity. And we need to learn to harness that and appreciate it and not use it as a political tool to keep everyone separate from it.”

Those statesmanlike feedback, nevertheless, have fallen flat with conservatives. The “exclusive” interview with the rightwing Fox (*100*) has triggered a social media pile-on.

“Such a let down. Did he sell out already to the rich men north of Richmond?,” reads one tweet. Another claims, “Damn, thought we had a real one. He switched up so fast.”

Writes one other social media person on the velocity of the backlash, “S—. That was fast”.

After first catching drew buzz on-line earlier this month, the independently launched track drew reward from the proper and opposition from the left, with its lyrics referencing “your dollar taxed to no end ’cause of rich men north of Richmond,” in addition to “the obese milkin’ welfare.”

Stated Anthony in a video posted Aug. 7, “I sit pretty dead center down the aisle on politics and always have.” He added on Facebook Aug. 17, “I am sad to see the world in the state it’s in, with everyone fighting with each other.”

On the left aspect of politics, legendary British singer and songwriter Billy Bragg penned an op-ed for The Guardian, the U.Ok.’s left-leaning each day, by which he posits that “Anthony really does punch down on the poor.” The Bard of Barking continues, “The lives of ordinary working people are being torn apart by the rich, he laments, but we can fix it if we cut welfare – and taxes too.” 

As the divisive track went all the best way to the highest, and contours had been being drawn, Anthony shared a remark with Billboard, “The hopelessness and frustration of our times resonate in the response to this song. The song itself is not anything special, but the people who have supported it are incredible and deserve to be heard.”