Singer-songwriter Oliver Anthony is internet famous for his populist song "Rich Men North of Richmond," the lyrics of which do a great job at punching down at poor people while pretending to be empathetic with poor people. (See his statement below. Perhaps I am being too harsh)
Fox News, ever in search of the perfect populist symbol now that J.D. Vance was elected to the Senate and is just a fool rather than a symbol, hopped right on the Oliver Anthony train and sent reporter Griff Jenkins out to interview him for their audience. It turns out to have been a mistake.
During the interview he told Jenkins, “I don’t see our country lasting more than another generation the way we are headed. We have to go back to the roots of what made this country great in the first place, which was our sense of community.”
And then he struck the winger nerve: “We are the melting pot of the world. And that’s what makes us strong, our diversity. And we need to learn to harness that and appreciate it and not use it as a political tool to keep everyone separate from it.”
Noooo, we don't say "diversity" on White Man TV Fox News!!! Nay!
The Daily Beast reports that with that single statement, the darling of right wingerland has driven a dagger straight into the hearts of True Believers.
“Promoted algorithm boosted ‘based’ red beard hillbilly song guy was faking his accent and says diversity is our strength,” the social media account @Black_Pilled tweeted on Monday. (The term “black pill,” according to the Anti-Defamation League, “represents nihilism, or a realization that the system is too far gone to change” within the extreme right.)
That post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, appeared to be the impetus for the alt-right backlash against Anthony. Soon after, a number of other prominent figures on the fringe right launched antisemitic conspiracies about the singer’s sudden fame, alleging he is being used to push anti-white messaging.
An openly racist comedian from Idaho chimed in from there and it was game on.
Owen Benjamin, an openly racist comedian who recently purchased an Idaho compound that neighbors worry could be the next Ruby Ridge, ranted that Anthony was a “fake” while using an antisemitic symbol to describe the song.
“The #1 way the (((rich men north of Richmond))) undercut the wages of the people Oliver Anthony is impersonating is mass migration,” he wrote on X. “The fact he said America is a melting pot and ‘diversity is our strength’ means he’s fake. And by fake I mean he’s an ad campaign. An actor. Not authentic. Kind of like Mickey Mouse at Disney. It isn’t ‘white supremacy’ that makes the demographic [he’s] impersonating hate migrants, it’s the fact the migrants destroy their ability to make a living.”
Elon Musk is loving it. He gets to stoke the white wingers, one of his favorite pastimes. For the rest of us, the whole flap over this song is crazy to begin with. It's a confused message hidden in a bluegrass beat.
UPDATE: Mr. Anthony has some things to say. "It's a lot bigger than Joe Biden. That song was written for the people up on that [debate] stage. Not just for them, but definitely them."
