Feelin' The Hate With Toby Keith Nation

Toby Keith likes to brag, "This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage." But when my reporting on the pro-lynching lyrics in his song, "Beer For My Horses," began to complicate the promo tour for his forthcoming "Southern comedy" movie of the same title, tough-talking Toby whined to the media. "The song was a hit and the words 'lynch' and 'racism' has [sic] never come up until this moron wrote this blog," he fumed to Contact Music.

When Fox News picked up Keith's comments, Big Dog Daddy's loyal fans bombarded my in-box with a deluge of indignant rants. While insisting to me that "Beer For My Horses" contained not even a hint of coded racial animus, Keith's fans simultaneously revealed their simmering resentment of Jews, blacks, and "faggy liberals."

Their hate-laden letters comprised the script for my latest video:

Toby Keith Nation Fights Back, a creative take on my hate mail

Keith claimed that "Beer For My Horses" was simply an anodyne ditty intended to evoke nostalgia for the Old West, where "bad guys" met justice at the end of a rope. "It's about the old West and horses and sheriffs ... and going and getting the bad guys. It's not a racist thing or about lynching," he said.

Why then did Keith sing so despairingly of car thieves, "corruption in the street," and terrorists who blow up buildings? Why did he invoke the swarthy boogeymen of the modern right-wing imagination right before launching into a verse about the good old days when his "grandpappy" would "take all the rope in Texas...find a tall oak tree," and "hang them high in the street, for all the people to see?" Maybe "Beer For My Horses" isn't about the Old West after all.

But since Keith has invoked that golden era of "horses and sheriffs...and going and getting the bad guys," it is fair to ask if he knows anything about the real history of lynching in Texas. Does he know that according to the Handbook of Texas, the Lone Star stood third among the states -- just behind Mississippi and Georgia -- in its total of lynching victims? Does Keith know that of the 468 people lynched in Texas, a whopping 339 were African-American (a partial list of black Texan lynching victims is here)?

Lynching was not, as Keith disingenuously claimed, a practice exclusive to gallant Hollywood cowboys played by Gene Autry (who couldn't even ride a horse) and Ronald Reagan. It was a mode of organized terror employed by groups like the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction to restore white supremacy in Texas and throughout the region.

Keith should immediately apologize for his musical monstrosity. Then I suggest he perform a cover of "Strange Fruit," the Billie Holiday anthem inspired by the anti-lynching poetry of Jewish school teacher Abel Meeropol. Holiday often cried (watch her here) as she performed her haunting dirge. On at least one occasion, she was so overcome with emotion she could not finish. With Toby Keith exploiting the South's most barbaric tradition for big bucks, Holiday's tears burn like salt on an unhealed wound.

Comments

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Keith should certainly apologize for his atrocious callousness. Max Blumenthal is a credit to The Huffington Post, and I certainly think he is making a huge difference and should keep doing exactly what he is doing.

[Cable]

Wow.....A song, and not even a very new song, and we now feel the need to stir up the hornet's nest about this, and just as he is trying to promote a new movie....coincidence or is someone trying to promote themselves on the coat tails of someone else's work, hmmmmmm.

As has been pointed out previously, the song does not mention lynching or racism, if you view it as such, then perhaps you feel threatened by something. The song, if you take the official music video and the song together, is very obviously about doing what is needed to get the bad guys off the streets. The only part that mentions hanging people is in the first verse, when Willie Nelson is singing.

Someone earlier on posted about the lynchings in various places, and that if the song was about the old west, Toby Keith's grandfather wouldn't have been alive then, so the song has to be about all the lynchings. That logic works, except for one small detail: Willie Nelson sings this part, and he is old enough his grandfather would have been alive in the correct time frame. Now the argument to this is that Toby Keith and Scott Emerick wrote the song, so Willie Nelson's age has nothing to do with it. However, if the song was written with the idea that he would do it as a duet with Willie Nelson or another older artist, then that argument fails.

Just my 2 cents.

[mhutch47]

"the song does not mention lynching." Gotta disagree with you there. It may not have the word "lynch" in the lyrics, but let's what do you think these lyrics refer to?:

Grandpappy told my pappy back in my day, son
A man had to answer for the wicked that he'd done
Take all the rope in Texas
Find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys
Hang them high in the street
For all the people to see...

That is the very definition of lynching (the only denotative difference between lynching and hanging is that lynching implies vigilante or mob justice which is exactly what that verse is about.)

Personally, I at first thought the racism charge was trumped up, if not fabricated, but then there are the lyrics :
We got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
too much corruption and crime in the streets

Which by themselves wouldn't be, but you watch the music video and it's pretty tough not to see the racist undertones... the mention of "gangsters" isn't in reference to Vito Corleone.

I'm not saying Toby Keith is a racist or that he intended the song as anything other than an homage to those old movies where there was a clear cut line between the good guys and the bad. I just wish he wouldn't have dismissed their claims so readily.

[BMSstudy]

You are aware that this is a song, correct? Many of us (middle-aged white guy from NY,) remember the westerns on TV and the movies from the 70/80s and this song seems to be longing for the days and times in those shows/movies. There were clearly demonstrated good guys and bad guys and the bad guys were dealt with by fist, gun and or rope.

[MeanGreenMachine]

He's Queer For His Horses?

[davend02]

I'm wondering, if this song troubled you this much, you must have bawled like a baby at those old Pace Picante commercials where cowboys sat around a fire on the range eating salsa until they realized that the salsa was made in New York City, at which point one of them says, "Get a rope." In all seriousness, I'm sure you never had a problem with the commercial, but you have a problem with Mr. Keith because he is a rah-rah American and more people have respect for him and what he does than for you and your partisan blog. And I'm sure it irks you that some good ole boy from Oklahoma gets more adulation than you.
According to you, Mr. Keith "whined to the media" about your blog, but was he "whining" or was he merely defending himself and his song against your absurd charges? Just so I get this straight, you can take limp-wristed shots at him, but he can't defend himself otherwise he's whining, is that it?
Nowhere in the song does Mr. Keith mention hanging blacks or Jews or even mention the word "lynch." Mr. Keith's song merely longs for a day (even if it never existed) where the bad guy "had to answer for the wicked that he done" and the good guys go and celebrate. What's so wrong with people being held responsible for their actions and paying the consequences?
Get over it Max and get over yourself.

[Giglawyer]

Max Blumenthal is funny and poignant from time to time, but his crusade against Toby Keith is a castle built on sand. It only demonstrates the danger of giving someone a podium unchecked. I am glad so many of you see through the hyperbole to realize that Max is completely wrong on this. Those of ou who didn't and who are casting aspersions upon Keith are only buying into Blumenthal's yellow journalism.

I think Max's other work, or at least what I have read, is pretty good. I guess I expect better based on his past work.

[thereigoagain]

If you can't get the majority of far-lefties on this site to agree with you to pretend racism where none exists, may just get you elected into the "playing victim" hall of fame.

[Swerinjer]

I disagree with this editorial. IO don't think Toby Keith and Willie Nelson are advocating the hanging of blacks and jews in this song. People who unjustly accuse others of racism and anit-jew are as bad as the racists they decry.

NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS. OK TO POST.

[silverball]

....hmmmm....this IS the SAME toby keith that railed against the dixie chicks for their mere comment about the current occupant isn't it???....i sense he IS part of the white is right club....actually white good ol' boys, that is....

[tgood]

Toby Keith is a lifelong Democrat and says he will always be a Democrat. Sorry. You'll have to find some other whine to make about him. Actually, when he is interviewed, he makes more common sense than many of the posters here at HuffPo. His words aren't of hate,spite and sheer nastiness as those who think behaving in that manner will win their rockstar the presidency. Toby Keith is guilty of one thing--he doesn't bash America or the troops and doesn't mind telling The Dixie Chicks to take a hike. When they decided to mix politics with their music, weren't they trying to shove their opinions down the throats of people who paid to hear them sing ?

[Wilburrr]

The problem that I have with Blumenthal's allegations is that this song is recorded as a duet with WIllie Nelson. Nobody seems to be addressing this issue; is Willie Nelson also a racist? Pardon the pun, but I find that a little hard to swallow.

Looking at the discography, Kieth is also the writer/performer of the hilariously funny, self effacing, "Wanna Talk About Me," and "As Good As I Once Was."

I would say that "Beer for my Horses" is more in the vein of this comic, country music rather than an assault on minorities. The author of this post seems to have taken it a long way -- perhaps farther than it should have gone. (Wait... there might be a song in that somewhere...)

[rhx056]

I am not Keith fan -- I'm not even a country music fan. I'm a left-wing radical who values accuracy and integrity in reporting.

There is a real problem here; there simply is nothing -- NOTHING -- in the song that is racist.

Misrepresentation such as this casts doubt on anything VALID that Blumenthal might have to support his assertion about Keith being racist, which Keith may be.

[CanisLatrans]

Well... Toby Keith may be a registered Democrat, but also remember that Michael Moore is a registered member of the NRA, too. Some things are just done as fig leaves to provide a modicum of artificial "street cred".

[MysticMichael]

"Lynching was not, as Keith disingenuously claimed, a practice exclusive to gallant Hollywood cowboys played by Gene Autry (who couldn't even ride a horse) and Ronald Reagan. It was a mode of organized terror employed by groups like the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction to restore white supremacy in Texas and throughout the region."

In TK's defense - if that's even the right word - he probably has no clue concerning the actual history of the practice. He probably "learned" everything he knows about it from watching old cowboy movies on TV. He ain't exactly a history scholar, y'know?

[RRonin]

Evidently he never watched an old cowboy movie called "The Ox-Bow Incident." He might have learned something about lynching.

[MHainds]

Max, you are a hero on this one. Don't bow to their intimidation.
The Dixie Chicks receieved death threats for speaking ill of the glorious "W."
Now the same people - Toby Keith's fans, are exposing their animus towards anyone that is not a Southern, White, Christian, Conservative.
Keep calling em' out.
Watch them stem in their own venom.
Maybe even Stephen Colbert will wake up to the reality on this one.

[feo]

Just a note about Toby Keith: seems like just another troop lover who, when he was of age, couldn't be bothered by trying on a uniform. Maybe his next song will be called "Kicking Ass (with My Mouth)."

[Stillanidiot]

And neither did John Wayne. Sure made a lot of movies about it though and a whole generation grew up believing he fought all those battles, caught all the bad guys . . .
All fake. All a fantasy.
There is a certain segment of our society that needs those heroes. Because they make those people believe their beliefs make a difference. They make them forget that in the end, they are completely powerless to change things with violence and revenge.
I can't fly over to Pakistan, drag Osama out of his cave and shoot him between the eyes.
But Sly can, Arnold, or Bruce, or Chuck or any other film star hero you care to name can. And if Toby Keith can't or won't, he can sing a song and inspire the troops who are really there.
If I'm a believer, then that makes me feel good, especially if one of those troops happens to be my brother, or son, or friend.
Want to make a difference?
Stop worrying about what movie stars or other entertainment figures do or think.
Be informed. Be educated. Educate and inform your children.
Then, whatever you believe, vote.

[Stillanidiot]

You've all missed the point here.
Toby Keith is just like any other entertainer or media figure. He's selling a product, namely music. And he does it very well. That's why he's still in the business. He's so good at it, that they even use him and his product to sell other products, like trucks.
Every body in the entertainment industry is selling something, music, an image, whatever. And everything you see, hear, read or taste about these people is carefully crafted for consumption and to reinforce the image they are selling.
Do you think old Toby or Big ol Yeller Dog or whatever his name is to his beloved fans picks out those t-shirts and beat up hats that he wears? Gimme a break.
He's selling, with the aid of an incredibly powerful and savvy media machine, pablum to his masses. He knows just what to write, sing, say, wear, eat (in public) and anything else to get them to believe and buy, buy, buy.
And the more you try to bring him down a peg, the more you build him up in their eyes.
Stop wasting your time.