Proving that his wife, Amy Grant, is off limits, Vince Gill once threatened a radio host during an on-air interview over comments they made about the singer.
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During his appearance on the podcast Naked Lunch, Gill spoke about Grant, whom he has been married to since 2000.
“Everybody that meets her is crazy about her,” he explained. “I remember when we were first getting married, I was really good friends with [legendary radio host] Don Imus … And he was, you know, he was a character, and he’s loved me forever and me and Delbert McClinton were his favorite, two of his favorite singers.”
The country music star then recalled confronting Don Imus after the radio host made disparaging remarks about Grant. He noted that the radio host had “flipped” on him after he and Grant got married.
“[Imus] kind of turned on me and started running me down,” Gill said. “And ragging me on his show every morning.”
He noted that Imus would say things like, “I can’t believe my favorite singer, Vince Gill, lost the Baby Jesus, married that Christian girl,’ and blah, blah, blah. So, he was just wearing my a– out.”
After releasing a new record, Gill said he wanted to get booked on Imus’ show. His publicist couldn’t believe it.
“And they said, ‘Are you nuts?'” Gill continued. “I said, ‘No,’ I said, ‘I want to go do the show.’ And they said, ‘Well, he’s ragging on you every day.’ I said, ‘I know.’ And so I got booked on the show.”
Things Took a Turn When Grant’s Name Is Mentioned
After singing a song on Imus’ show, he and the radio host had a chat. That was when Grant’s name was brought up.
“He said something about Amy, and I said, ‘I’m glad you brought Amy up,'” Gill said. “I said, ‘I’ve been hearing you say some pretty ugly things about my wife, and I’m just kind of curious why.’ I said, ‘You used to be a great supporter of mine’ and this and that.”
He then pointed out to Imus that the radio host had never met Grant.
“I said, ‘Well, if you ever met her, you’d never say an unkind word about her.'” Gill recalled. “I’m going to shoot you straight.’ I said, ‘I really only came on this show for one reason.’ I said, ‘We’re either going to talk this out, straighten this out,’ I said, ‘or I’m going to crawl across this desk, and I’m going to kick your a–.'”
Following the remark, Imus seemingly changed his tune about Grant. Gill said that after he left the show, he listed to the radio host admit he didn’t know why he was giving the country music sing “so much crap.”
Imus also said he loved Gill.
“He completely turned,” Gill noted. “And we stayed great friends until his passing.”
Imus passed away in late 2019.