I’m Oliver Anthony, and I don’t approve this message.
The man behind the No. 1 blue-collar anthem “Rich Men North of Richmond” shared his thoughts about his song being brought up in the Republican presidential debate on Wednesday.
“It was funny seeing my song at that presidential debate because I wrote that song about those people, you know, so for them to have to sit there and listen to that, that cracks me up,” Anthony said in a YouTube video uploaded Friday.
During Wednesday’s debate, Fox News host, Martha MacCallum said Anthony’s “lyrics speak of alienation, of deep frustration with the state of government and of this country. Washington DC is about 100 miles north of Richmond.”
“Governor [Ron] DeSantis, why is this song striking such a nerve in this country right now?” McCallum asked the Florida official, according to The Guardian.
DeSantis replied, “Our country is in decline. This decline is not inevitable. It’s a choice. We need to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse American decline.”
However, Anthony claimed his song “has nothing to do with Joe Biden.”
“It’s a lot bigger than Joe Biden,” he claimed.
“The one thing that has bothered me is seeing people wrap politics up in this. I’m disappointed to see it. Like, it’s aggravating seeing people on conservative news try to identify with me like I’m one of them.”
Uploaded two weeks ago, “Rich Men North of Richmond” has over 41 million views on YouTube. It’s also the first song by an artist with no chart history to make No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song’s lyrics reference hungry “people in the street,” “obese” citizens “milking welfare” and suicide rates of young men.
Right-learning figures, including Kari Lake, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Walsh have all adopted the politicized verses despite Anthony’s self-proclaimed centrist views.
“I hate to see that being weaponized. I see the right trying to characterize me as one of their own, and I see the left trying to discredit me, I guess, in retaliation,” he said in the nearly 11-minute video.
“That sh–‘s gotta stop,” Anthony stated.
The Post has contacted Anthony for comment.
Anthony, who just released a new song Wednesday titled “I Want To Go Home,” told the Free Press on Thursday that he hopes his viral hit will inspire listeners to stop relying “on someone 150 or 500 miles away from them to solve their problems.”
“Nobody in Washington, DC, no one in the federal government’s coming to save us,” he told the outlet.
“The people that are going to save us are each other.”
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