Not one to hold back his opinion, Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider has slammed Beyoncé for her new country song.
Days after Beyoncé released her country songs Texas Hold ‘Em and 16 Carriages, Schneider had nothing but criticism towards her for moving into the music genre. American Songwriter reports that during his appearance on One America News Network, the actor discussed Bey’s new songs.
“The lefties in the entertainment industry just won’t leave any area alone, right?” he asked. “They just have to seize control over every aspect, don’t they?”
John Schneider then used an analogy for Beyoncé attempting to break into country music. “They’ve got to make their mark, just like a dog in a dog walk park,” he explained. “You know, every dog has to mark every tree, right? So that’s what’s going on here.”
Pointing out that he knows “a little something about country music,” Schneider has been involved in the music genre for more than 40 years. He launched his country music career by performing the cover of Elvis Presley’s It’s Now or Never in 1981.
It reached No. 4 on the music charts. He went on to release approximately 17 songs on the Country Songs chart and scored four No. 1s between 1981 and 1987.
John Schneider Branded a Racist Following His Dog Analogy Towards Beyoncé
Not long after John Schneider made the analogy, X users were quick to attack him for being racist towards Beyoncé.
“This isn’t a racist dog whistle, it’s a freakin’ foghorn!” one X user declared. Another user declared, “White conservative racist so anti-black they don’t know that all their dearest music they cherish as conservative music is just black music they adopted and claimed as their own after we abandoned it for newer genres.”
“Imagine gatekeeping a genre of music that black people created,” An X user wrote. “Imagine getting mad that a southern artist from Texas decided to go back to her roots. BTW This is not her first country song!! Anyways… Get Beyoncé’s new single #TEXASHOLDEM.”
Other X users pointed out that it’s not John Schneider’s place to push musicians out of the country genre. “You can’t gatekeep genres especially ones you didn’t even create,” a fellow critic stated.
Another X user pointed out that crossovers in music genres are not new. “Paul McCartney released a country song 50 years ago (Country Dreamer and Sally G)…even the Stones had a huge country influence (Dead Flowers Far Away Eyes) so don’t understand this about Beyoncé unless it’s because she’s…”