Singer Maren Morris announced she is leaving country music due to the effects the “Trump years” have had on the music genre.
“After the Trump years, people’s biases were on full display,” “The Bones” singer said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times published Friday. “It just revealed who people really were and that they were proud to be misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic.”
The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter added that she resents music being used as a “toxic weapon in culture wars.”
Referencing Jason Aldean’s hit song “Try That in a Small Town,” which made waves with conservatives, Morris said, “People are streaming these songs out of spite.”
She continued, “It’s not out of true joy or love of the music. It’s to own the libs. And that’s so not what music is intended for. Music is supposed to be the voice of the oppressed — the actual oppressed. And now it’s being used as this really toxic weapon in culture wars.”
Morris first made political headlines last year when she criticized comments made by Aldean’s wife, Brittany Aldean, regarding gender-affirming care for transgender youth last year. Morris then faced backlash from conservative television host Tucker Carlson, whose Fox News show displayed on-screen text calling her a “lunatic country person.”
Morris poked fun at the situation and raised $100,000 for pro-trans organizations by selling a T-shirt playing on the phrase.
Tara Suter contributed.