Conservative fans of country singer Zach Bryan lashed out after he released a snippet of his new song "Bad News" on Instagram, in which he criticizes President Donald Trump's ongoing immigration crackdown.
Bryan, a Grammy-winning singer and U.S. Navy veteran, wrote lyrics that touch on ICE raids and the erosion of American unity, symbolized by “the fading of the red, white, and blue.” The release follows his record-breaking concert at Michigan Stadium, where more than 112,000 fans attended.
The lyrics of the snippet are as follows:
"Didn't wake up dead or in jail/Some out-of-town boys been given us hell/I got some bad news/I woke up missing you"
"My friends are all degenerates, but they're all I've got/The generational story of dropping the plot/I heard the cops came/Cocky motherf**kers, ain't they?"
"And ICE is gonna come bust down your door/Try to build a house no one builds no more/But I got a telephone/Kids are all scared and all alone"
"The bars stopped bumping, the rock stopped rolling/Thе middle fingers rising, and it won't stop showing/Got some bad nеws/The fading of the red, white and blue"
You can hear the preview of the song below.
The anger from the MAGA contingent was palpable, with many vowing to boycott Bryan for speaking out.
But others have come to Bryan's defense.
Bryan has not announced a release date for the full-length version of "Bad News" but we suspect the rest of the song's lyrics will be pretty similar to these.
In an email to Rolling Stone, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin quipped, “Stick to Pink Skies,” referencing Bryan’s apolitical ballad about family members reuniting for a funeral.
Despite that unsurprising pushback from the Trump administration, “Bad News” has nonetheless found a sizable audience, surpassing 150,000 views on a YouTube channel devoted to Bryan’s work.
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