Country star Zach Bryan is facing conservative backlash after previewing lyrics from his new single, “Bad News,” that appear to condemn U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In a short clip posted to Instagram, Bryan referenced ICE raids that left families traumatized, including a recent incident in Illinois where children were zip-tied.
The hardline right didn’t appreciate the reference.
Bad news for right-wing country fans
Bryan posted the clip from “Bad News” on Friday, which many didn’t notice until the weekend was over. On Monday, his name started to trend on X as users either griped or cheered about the lyrics.
“I heard the cops came / Cocky motherf**kers ain’t they? / And ICE is gonna come, bust down your door / Try to build a house no one builds no more / But I’ve got a telephone / Kids are all scared and all alone.”
Despite the more explicit dig at the police, people are focusing most of their energy on the line about ICE. This might have something to do with a story that broke last weekend about a brutal ICE raid in late September.
On the same day that Bryan posted the “Bad News” clip, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker ordered an investigation into this nighttime raid, citing disturbing details from witnesses. According to reports, ICE agents broke down doors in an apartment building and detained terrified families, including children, ripping them from their beds.
In a Sunday celebrity.land interview, Pritzker said there were “elderly people being thrown into a U-Haul for three hours and detained” and “children who were zip-tied and held, some of them nearly naked.”
“Imagine an armed stranger forcibly removing you from your bed, zip-tying your hands, separating you from your family, and detaining you in a dark van for hours. This didn’t happen in a country with an authoritarian regime–it happened here in Chicago.”
Zach Bryan loses conservatives
Many conservatives reserved their ire for the song and lashed out at Bryan online.
“ICE agents risk their lives daily. Violent leftists throw bricks at them, attack them, spit at them, even shoot at them,” claimed @Notwokenow. “And this is the song he released.”
“Career over.”
“No name Country artist Zach Bryan, slams ice for deporting criminal illegal immigrants,” wrote @RealHickory. “It’s a stretch calling him an ‘artist’ because he has no talent!”
Bryan just broke the record for the largest ticketed concert in U.S. history with over 112,000 attendees.
Meanwhile, right-wing commentator Tomi Lahren called him “trash.”
“This moment calls for moral and artistic courage”
The singer’s career might not so much be “over” as about to see a shift in his fan base, because the left is as happy as the right is angry.
“F YEAH!!! Country singer and military veteran Zach Bryan drops new song criticizing ICE and the collapse of American democracy,” cheered The Seneca Project co-founder Michelle Kinney.
“This moment calls for moral and artistic courage — MORE OF THIS!!!”
Others pointed out the storied country music history of resisting the law.
User @citehchris laughed that “people are mad at zach bryan for dropping anti ICE lyrics like country music wasn’t always anti authority before jason aldean decided to nancy reagan the boot.”
“Country fans are mad at Zach Bryan for dissing ICE in his song snippet?” asked @gvgrundis. “Don’t let them find out that Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash all hated fascists and were very left leaning.”
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