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Country music star and American Idol judge Luke Bryan is in hot water with many fans after bringing anti-LGBTQ+, anti-immigrant, anti-reproductive freedom Florida Governor Ron DeSantis onstage during a recent concert performance in Jacksonville.
DeSantis is one of the most controversial Republicans in the country after leading several legislative attacks on LGBTQ+ people, a stunt in which he tricked Venezuelan asylum seekers in Florida into taxpayer-funded flights to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts with promises of housing and employment, and having several mostly Black voters arrested for false election fraud charges.
But Bryan is defending his appearance with DeSantis, clarifying that it was for the purposes of raising money and awareness for relief from Hurricane Ian, which ravaged the state of Florida last month.
Viral videos of the moment Bryan welcomed DeSantis, who is currently running for reelection, onto the stage show the crowd at his concert cheering for the Governor as he tossed baseball caps that appeared to bear his campaign logo.
\u201cDeSantis just walked out on stage at Luke Bryan. It\u2019s deafening in here.\u201d— Bonnie Upright, APR (@Bonnie Upright, APR) 1667007460
Backlash ensued almost immediately given DeSantis' belligerently bigoted form of conservatism and his presumed 2024 presidential ambitions.
But Bryan took to Twitter to push back on the criticisms, attempting to shift focus to Hurricane Ian relief efforts.
\u201chttps://t.co/edKiDb49ir\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
In his post, Bryan wrote:
“I understand Governor DeSantis is a very polarizing figure. But I grew up in a country where if a governor [asks] you if they can come and raise awareness to help victims of a natural disaster you help.”
“I’ve generally stayed out of politics throughout my career."
"I knew people would chatter about this but for me the more important piece was If I am going to come back there a few weeks after a large portion of people have been affected by a natural disaster in a state where people have been good to me this felt right."
Bryan, who grew up in Georgia, closed his post with references to the University of Georgia and University of Florida college football rivalry and a number fans could text to donate to Hurricane Ian relief.
But many found Bryan's explanation unconvincing and criticized him for his seeming support of the extremist governor, especially given DeSantis' use of the appearance as an opportunity to stump for his reelection campaign.
\u201c@lukebryan The way to end that statement was to add u didn\u2019t endorse any candidate. Especially the one u invited on stage to toss political caps with his name. Aid relief is a bad cowardice excuse. Since u read the backlash before u wrote this, you\u2019ll be reading tweets-not playing outside\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
\u201c@lukebryan He was tossing out hats with his name on them like frisbees and then you high fived him. Dont use the hurricane victims as an excuse for your poor judgement. Just plan on losing a lot of fans.\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
\u201c@lukebryan DeSantis was allowed to show up and to throw out \u201celection\u201d baseball caps to your audience. Your team by allowing this to happen,turned it political. You allowed it,now live with the criticism to comes with your decision.\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
\u201c@lukebryan I'm nobody to you so my opinion is no big deal. \nBut I was disappointed. Your greeting of DeSantis on stage certainly appeared to be more than wanting to help Hurricane victims. \nIt looked like a full endorsement of DeSantis - DeSantis is worse than polarizing.\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
\u201c@AvengerResister @lukebryan\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
\u201c@lukebryan If you were there solely to raise funds for the Hurricane relief you would have brought The Red Cross on stage! \nYou are the one that made it political by bringing a politician on stage!\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
\u201c@lukebryan I\u2019m very disappointed in you. If you wanted to help the people of Florida make a donation. You call for people to donate. Don\u2019t bring a criminal on the stage with you. I\u2019m beyond disappointed in you.\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
\u201c@lukebryan Choices have consequences.\n\nI choose to not watch another episode of @AmericanIdol as long as you are sharing that 'stage'.\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
\u201c@lukebryan I am sorry no one on your team looked up the fund that the Desantis family has established. It is a private fund that takes 3% of every donation for admin fees. They get to say how the funds are spent and so for the only thing I have seen is a payment to law enforcement.\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
\u201c@lukebryan "I'm sorry I brought Hitler on stage, but I'm a supporter of his lovely charity work."- Luke Bryan\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
\u201c@lukebryan I recently attended the Chris Stapleton, Dwight Yokum and Tyler Childers concert for Eastern Kentucky flood victims. They managed to raise $2.5 million without bringing any political figure on stage.\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1667149054
The text number Bryan included in his post leads fans to donate to the Florida Disaster Fund, a private fund administered by DeSantis and his administration, which has led some, including a former Bush Administration official, to question its legitimacy.