Celebrities Speak Out - Politcs

Back in 2003 the Dixie Chicks were n their “Top of the World” tour. Their career really was at its peek. That was until their performance at Shepherds Bush Empire in London, England. During the Dixie Chicks performance Natalie Maines said

“We’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas”.

At the time, the audience cheered, they loved it. But afterwards, it was all over the news and the hate began to flow in! The Dixie Chicks songs were pulled off the radio, radio stations were receiving hate letters and refused to play their songs. People said things like “strap her to a bomb and send her over to Iraq”. The hate Natalie received was unbelievable. After this whole ordeal the Dixie Chicks had hit rock bottom. America showed true support for George Bush during this situation as this was not to long after September 11th.

Later Pink decided to speak out about George Bush. She wrote a song called “Dear Mr. President” which was released on her album on April 5th, 2006. Although this situation was dealt with completely different than the Dixie Chicks comment. Pink has been praised for her song towards George Bush instead of hated. Pink claims some US television shows would not let her perform the song but that was the worse it got for Pink. Pink also seemed to deal with the situation differently than the Dixie Chicks. The Dixie Chicks never took back what they said, which I admire, they stood true to their opinions. Instead, Pink said at an MTV interview that she hoped George Bush had listened to the song and that "[he] is proud of the fact that we live in a country where we can do things like that, where we can have dissent, talk, communicate and share our opinions." So in a way, Pink gave him a compliment in that as we do have a good government system unlike other places around the world where something like this would never be accepted.

Kanye West also tried to take a jab at George Bush. After Katrina, Kanye claimed that "George Bush doesn't care about black people" This comment was soon forgotten because Kanye had no proof of that, he had no reason to make that comment.

These three situations were all handled completely differently! The Dixie Chicks had a perfect image before all this, so it was easy for the media to destroy their image. They were just your typical ‘girl next door’ country girls. Pink on the other hand has always been known as someone who speaks her mind no matter what. She doesn’t care what people think of her, and she’s always been that way so it’s hard to pull someone down like that. Kanye West on the other hand has always been known as a drama queen, always complaining about something or someone. The three artists are also apart of three completely different genres therefore they have three completely different audiences. These situations all happened at different times as the Dixie Chicks happened after 911 so the country felt the need to stand together and support Bush as everyone was still devastated about 911. When Pink spoke out George Bush was at his lowest point in ratings, people were not heavily supporting him as they once were. Kanye West’s comment happened after Katrina as America was trying hard to help save people in Katrina and raise funds for them. They were all three different times. Also I think the statements were all irrelevant. The Dixie Chicks comment was clearly against Bush, as Pinks song seemed more like she wanted to open Bush’s eyes, she wasn’t exactly saying something against him she was just asking rhetorical questions trying to make him think. As for Kanye West’s comment, his was just ridiculous and I find it typical that it came from him. All in all I can see why they were dealt with differently, but I think it is funny how much the media mingles with celebrities lives. I mean the media single handedly destroyed the Dixie Chicks career, it almost ended. Yet basically nothing was done to Kanye West as he tried to claim that George Bush was racist.