Country music star facing MAGA ‘go woke, go broke’ threat got a mega-deal this year

Zach Bryan’s new song “Bad News” has whipped MAGA into a frenzy this week because it has been viewed as anti-ICE.

And, these days, a common threat for folks upsetting the MAGA folks is, “Go woke, go broke.” Bryan has been hit with that one on social media this week, and it has worked with some folks before, but there are nearly 400 million reasons why that might not be much of a threat at all for the singer.

Earlier this year, according to multiple reports, Bryan struck up a pair of mega deals — re-upping his deal with Warner Records and also selling his publishing catalog — that brough him quite the windfall.

The reported number … well, it wasn’t quite $400 million, but $350 million is pretty good, too, and that was the number thrown around when the deals went down. Prior to that, Bryan had an estimated net worth of $8 million, so he doesn’t figure to be going broke anytime soon.

For those that missed it, the country music star set the internet on fire this week when he dropped the song which takes a nasty swipe at ICE.

“The generational story of dropping the plot/ I hear the cops came, cocky (expletives) ain’t they?,” the song goes. “And ICE is gonna come bust down your door / Try to build a house, no bills no more, well I got a telephone / Kids are all scared and all alone.”

Bryan shared a clip of the song to Instagram, and wrote, “The fading of the red white and blue.”

With the MAGA world freaking out, Bryan returned to social media on Tuesday to address the uproar with post to his Instagram stories titled, “pls (expletive) read this.”

“I wrote this song months ago,” he wrote. “I posted this song three months ago as a snippet. This shows you how divisive a narrative can when shoved down our throats through social media. This song is about how much I love this country and everyone in it more than anything. When your hear the rest of the song, you will understand the full context that hits on both sides of the aisle. Everyone using this now as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are. We need to find our way back.

“I served this country,” he continued. “I love this country and the song itself is about all of us coming out of this divided space. I wasn’t speaking as a politician or some greater-than-thou (expletive), just a 29 year old man who is just as confused as everyone else. To see how much (expletive) it stirred up makes me not only embarrassed but kind of scared. Left wing or right wing we’re all one bird and American. To be clear I’m on neither of these radical sides. To all those disappointed in me on either side of whatever you believe in just know I’m trying my best too and we all say things that are misconstrued sometimes. Everyone else have a great day and I love each and every one of ya!!!”

Bryan’s release of the song drew swift rebuke from fans of President Trump on social media.

“Who’s ready for the Zach Bryan-Dixie Chicks tour?” country music singer and Trump backer John Rich wrote on X. “Prob a huge Bud Light sponsorship for this one.”

“No name country artist Zach Bryan, slams ice for deporting criminal illegal immigrants,” Mike Engleman wrote on X. “It’s a stretch calling him an artist because he has no talent.”

There were plenty more posts like that, but Bryan also had plenty of support.

“No name country artist Zach Bryan,” Caleb Brock responded to Engleman’s post while sharing a picture that shows the singer has 25.9 million monthly listeners.

“The ‘no name country artist’ who held the largest ticketed concert in U.S. history (112,000 people) last week,” another person responded to Engleman.