For those out of the loop, a new song by Paisley that addressed his racial opinions was released online to a storm of debate last week. The song "Accidental Racist" contained lyrics that portrayed how Paisley felt about things like wearing a cowboy hat or Confederate flag T-shirt and having people assume he was racist. Some called it brave and provocative; others who listened to the lyrics felt it was probably the most horrible excuse for racial dialog in many years.
I first heard snippets of "Accidental Racist" over the weekend; you probably won't find it online for a while. Monday morning, the song had been removed, no doubt in response to all the controversy. What seems to have set most critics off is the part where LL tells Paisley that "I won't judge you by your red flag if you don't judge me by my gold chains.
I'll forget the iron chains When I got married I hired a great choir — the St. James Choir, an all-black gospel choir — to sing at my wedding.
We were going to go do Kimmel , and I thought we might use them. So we got up there [on Kimmel ]. It was three months before the album was done. In Hollywood, mind you.
Hollywood Boulevard. Are they just proud Southerners that do not mean to offend? Here are some ways. I played a show for the inauguration of our president. It was a really big party. I was a featured guest at a huge party on Dr. The president has praised your music. Those conversations are private. Did you vote for President Obama? You could alienate a significant portion of your fan base if, say, you copped to voting for President Obama.
There may be people in my audience who may not agree with me on some particular issue — you know, say, as a gun owner, they may not agree with me, or, you know, someone may not agree with me on a gay marriage topic. Any of those things. I love being an enigma. I might, though.
You know, I could see us playing one time: LL and me, onstage at the Opry, with just an acoustic guitar, just having this musical conversation. Is this an idea that would have best been left on the cutting room floor? Looking back at the whole thing — of course the song would still be on the record.
Art should inspire discussion. Look, this started a journey for me. You know, there came that point where I had to decide: Are you jumping off the cliff or not? I knew that that song was a bit of the third rail for the record.
I played [ Late Night with Jimmy ] Fallon the other night. I saw Questlove there, of course — I went up and introduced myself. But I never got to talk to him.
This is a learning process for me, you know. I consider myself a bit of a comedian. One of them is, 'We're still picking up the pieces, walking on eggshells, fighting over yesterday,' and the other is, 'Paying for the mistakes that a lot of folks made long before we came.
And I think the younger generations are really kind of looking for ways out of this. How do I show my Southern pride?
What is offensive to you? And he kind of replies, and his summation is really that whole let bygones be bygones and 'If you don't judge my do rag, I won't judge your red flag.
The assumption that there is no real difference among black people is exactly what racism is. Our differences, our right to our individuality, is what makes us human. The point of racism is to rob black people of that right. It would be no different than me assuming that Rachel Weisz must necessarily have something to say about black-Jewish relations, or me assuming that Paisley must know something about barbecue because he's Southern.
It is no different than the only black kid in class being asked to explain "race" to white people, or asking the same question of the sole black dude in your office. The entire fight is to get white people to respect the fact that Mos Def holding a microphone is not LL Cool J holding a microphone, that Trayvon Martin is not De'Marquise Elkins, that wearing a hoodie and being black does not make you the same as every other person wearing a hoodie and being black.
Paisley wants to know how he can express his Southern Pride. Here are some ways. He could hold a huge party on Martin Luther King's birthday, to celebrate a Southerner's contribution to the world of democracy. He could rock a T-shirt emblazoned with Faulkner's Light In August , and celebrate the South's immense contribution to American literature.
He could preach about the contributions of unknown Southern soldiers like Andrew Jackson Smith. He could tell the world about the original Cassius Clay.
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