“Wealthy Males North of Richmond” Singer Aggravated by Conservatives

Oliver Anthony is bored with right-wing figures utilizing his viral No. 1 hit, “Wealthy Males North of Richmond,” to advance their political narratives. After the music was used because the opening speaking level through the Republican presidential debate on Wednesday, the nation singer posted a video on his YouTube channel clarifying that “these folks” on stage have been the wealthy males he was really singing about.

Within the video, Anthony claims his music wasn’t meant to push a political viewpoint. “The one factor that has bothered me is seeing folks wrap politics up into this,” Anthony mentioned. “I’m disillusioned to see — like, it’s aggravating seeing folks on conservative information attempt to determine with me, like I’m one among them. It’s aggravating seeing sure musicians and politicians act like we’re buddies and act like we’re preventing the identical wrestle right here, like we’re attempting to current the identical message.”

He continued by addressing how “Wealthy Males” was dragged into the talk. “It was humorous seeing my music on the presidential debate,” Anthony mentioned. “As a result of it’s like, I wrote that music about these folks, you already know? So for them to have to sit down there and take heed to that, that cracks me up. However it was humorous kinda seeing the response to it. That music has nothing to do with Joe Biden! It’s loads larger than Joe Biden. That music was written in regards to the folks on that stage, and much more, too — not simply them, however undoubtedly them.”

Anthony added, “It’s arduous to get a message out about your political ideology or your perception in regards to the world in three minutes and a few change. However I do hate to see that music being weaponized. Like, I see the appropriate attempting to characterize me as one among their very own, and I see the left attempting to discredit me, I assume, in retaliation. That shit’s gotta cease.”

Elsewhere within the video, Anthony addressed criticism from “the left” for his “Wealthy Males” lyrics about “the overweight milkin’ welfare” and utilizing tax {dollars} to purchase Fudge Rounds. “When you take heed to my different music, it’s apparent that each one of my songs that reference class defend the poor,” he mentioned. “‘Doggon It’ is an efficient instance of that: ‘Needles on the street, people hardly surviving on sidewalks/ Subsequent to highways stuffed with vehicles, self-drivin’/ The poor hold hurtin’, and the wealthy hold thrivin.’ That’s what I prefer to sing about.”

He went on to say that the music’s message is meant to handle “the inefficiencies of the federal government due to the politicians inside it which are engulfed in bribes and extortion” earlier than referencing an article about youngsters in Richmond who’re going hungry as a result of there’s not sufficient meals at residence and faculty is out for the summer time. Anthony then cited statistics about “30 or 40 p.c” of EBT cash being spent on snack meals and soda.

“Welfare solely makes up a small share of our price range, you already know? We are able to gas a proxy warfare in a overseas land, however we are able to’t maintain our personal,” he mentioned. “That’s all of the music’s attempting to say. It’s simply saying the federal government takes people who find themselves needy and dependent and makes them needy and dependent.”

Earlier this week, Anthony sat down for an interview with Fox & Friends, throughout which he pissed off an entire bunch of conservatives by advocating for variety as an alternative of being racist. “We’re the melting pot of the world, and that’s what makes us sturdy is our variety,” he mentioned. “And we have to be taught to harness that and recognize it and never use it as a political device to maintain everybody separate from one another.”

In a earlier YouTube video, he claimed to “sit fairly lifeless heart down the aisle on politics.” So, it looks as if Anthony has been constant about his obvious lack of political leanings, however no person was attempting to listen to it.