\n Zach Bryan found himself in the crosshairs<\/a> of the culture wars this week. From his latest statement about the reaction to his new song \u201cBad News,\u201d it sounds like he\u2019d really like to deescalate the situation.\n <\/p>\n \n Unfortunately for him, that\u2019s not likely to happen very quickly.\n <\/p>\n \n It all began when the country music star previewed his new song<\/a> late last week, which seems to critique the recent raid activity<\/a> by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\n <\/p>\n \n Lyrics include references to ICE coming to \u201cbust down your door, try to build a house no one builds no more.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Amid mounting furor, Bryan wrote in a statement posted to his Instagram Stories on Tuesday that the song, written months ago, is about \u201chow much I love this country and everyone in it more than anything\u201d and \u201call of us coming out of this divided space.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI wasn\u2019t speaking as a politician or some greater-than-thou a*****e, just a 29 year old man who is just as confused as everyone else,\u201d he wrote.\n <\/p>\n \n He hoped that when people hear the rest of the song, \u201cyou will understand the full context that hits on both sides of the aisle.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Regarding the reaction the song lyrics have stirred up, he said that \u201ceveryone using this now as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are. We need to find our way back.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cTo see how much s**t it stirred up makes me not only embarrassed but kind of scared,\u201d he wrote toward the end of his message. \u201cLeft wing or right wing we\u2019re all one bird and American. To be clear, I\u2019m on neither of these radical sides.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n A representative for Bryan said he was unavailable for an interview when contacted by celebrity.land.\n <\/p>\n \n Unfortunately for Bryan, whose flame-snuffing attempt seems both straightforward and earnest, the ire from more right-leaning sides has been swift and severe.\n <\/p>\n \n On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X<\/a>, \u201cStick to Pink Skies, dude\u201d \u2013 in reference to Bryan\u2019s 2024 song. One day later, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem also sounded off.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI hope Zach Bryan understands how completely disrespectful that song is, not just to law enforcement but to this country, to every single individual that has ever stood up and fought for our freedoms,\u201d Noem said.\n <\/p>\n \n Bryan is a U.S. Navy veteran.\n <\/p>\n \n This isn\u2019t the first time a country star has gotten all mashed up in the middle of a major political divide. Just ask Bryan\u2019s country cohorts The Chicks, who previously carried \u201cDixie\u201d in their name.\n <\/p>\n \n How well do you really remember this story?\n <\/p>\n \n In 2003, shortly before the invasion of Iraq, while post-9\/11 patriotism was still thick in the air, Natalie Maines, the then-named Dixie Chicks\u2019 lead singer, said at a concert that the Texas-based group was not in support of the war, adding that they were \u201cashamed\u201d that then-President George W. Bush was from Texas.\n <\/p>\n \n Country radio boycotted, causing their music to tank on the Billboard charts. CDs of the bands\u2019 music were destroyed by protestors. In one case, an Entertainment Weekly cover story later revealed, some copies were crushed by a tractor. And, as Maines later sang in their hit \u201cNot Ready to Make Nice,\u201d they received death threats.\n <\/p>\n \n The message being sent to The Chicks by the overwhelmingly conservative country music fanbase was clear: You\u2019re not allowed to ruffle feathers.\n <\/p>\n \n At first, the band tried to calm the furor, with Maines apologizing to Bush in a statement \u201cbecause my remark was disrespectful\u201d and \u201cI feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect.\u201d (Note: She appears to now feel quite differently<\/a>.)\n <\/p>\n \n Two months later, if the controversy had begun to cool, the band offered up fresh fuel, appearing nude on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, where band member Martie Maguire admitted they felt \u201clet down by our industry.\u201d Country music, specifically. But also their peers, like the late Toby Keith<\/a>, who projected a doctored image of Maines and Saddam Hussein during one of his concerts after the controversy.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cEveryone has the right to say something, and he does,\u201d Maines told Entertainment Weekly. \u201cI respect that more than people who say nothing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n And The Chicks had no plans to become those people, nor have they. In the time since, they\u2019ve aligned themselves with movements like Black Lives Matter<\/a> and voiced their support for LGBTQ rights and gun control.\n <\/p>\n \n In 2020, they dropped \u201cDixie\u201d<\/a> from their name because the term holds \u201ca lot of negative connotations and harkens back to a time in our country that brought pain to so many people,\u201d Maines explained<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Hot-button issues have only grown exponentially hotter, more polarized and toxic in the decades since The Chicks two-stepped out of country music\u2019s good graces and became an example for others \u2013 but perhaps not in the way their detractors were intending.\n <\/p>\n \n In 2018, Taylor Swift famously broke her political silence and endorsed Tennessee Democrats ahead of the midterm elections. The 2020 Netflix documentary \u201cMiss Americana\u201d<\/a> showed <\/strong>a tearful Swift explaining her decision to her father, who was concerned about her safety and the potential for backlash.\n <\/p>\n \n Cut to 2024, when Swift, in the midst of a record-breaking tour run, endorsed Kamala Harris in the presidential election. Days later, she was the target of one of now-President Donald Trump\u2019s Truth Social posts when he wrote simply, \u201cI hate Taylor Swift.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n As anyone vaguely aware of music on this planet has seen, that sentiment has not adversely affected Swift\u2019s appeal or marketability in the time since, at all.\n <\/p>\n \n Maren Morris is another musician who got her start firmly in the country world, but was ostracized for getting into a public argument with fellow country stars Jason Aldean over gender-affirming healthcare<\/a> and with Morgan Wallen over his use of a racial slur<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n In late 2023, Morris released an EP<\/a> titled \u201cThe Bridge\u201d that heralded her departure from the country genre.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI couldn\u2019t do this circus anymore \u2013 feeling like l have to absorb and explain people\u2019s bad behaviors and laugh it off,\u201d she said<\/a> on the podcast \u201cPopcast (Deluxe)<\/a>\u201d at the time.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI just couldn\u2019t do that after 2020 particularly,\u201d Morris added. \u201cI\u2019ve changed. A lot of things changed about me that year.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Her outspoken stance caused widespread dissent among country music listeners, and she later walked back on her complete departure<\/a> from the genre.\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s worth noting that around the time of Morris\u2019 feud with Aldean, the country genre as a whole was facing a bit of an identity crisis<\/a>, with Aldean\u2019s song \u201cTry That in a Small Town\u201d \u2013 which many took to be a bit too close to glorifying lynching or racial violence due to its lyrics and music video setting \u2013 taking center stage. Much in the same way Bryan did this week, Aldean was moved to pen a defense<\/a> for his song after he faced backlash.\n <\/p>\n \n Since \u201cThe Bridge,\u201d Morris has released another EP and her fourth album.\n <\/p>\n \n She and The Chicks performed<\/a> at the Democratic National Convention last year.\n <\/p>\n \n Though the temperature of the discourse has heated up in the last decade, the effects of being a target of backlash have seemingly cooled. People are angry about so much these days, has selective outrage become just another drop in the bucket of simmering dissatisfaction?\n <\/p>\n \n Back in 2003, Chicks band member Emily Strayer predicted to Entertainment Weekly that their controversy would \u201cgo down in history as a sign of the times.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Would they bounce back? She wasn\u2019t sure. (They did<\/a>.) \u201cBut I do think it\u2019s a sign of everyone\u2019s just being scared right now \u2013 scared to speak up, scared to question. But our country\u2019s based on asking questions.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n So long as that\u2019s still true more than 20 years later, maybe that\u2019s one bit of good news.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Maren](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/gettyimages-2237450861.jpg?c=original&q=w_860,c_fill\")
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