Gayle King Scolds Country Music Industry For 'Rejecting' Lesbian Singer
Gayle King forwarded the agenda of the cultural left on Wednesday's CBS This Morning as she interviewed country music artist Chely Wright, an open homosexual. The Obama-supporting anchor targeted the country music industry for supposedly giving Wright the cold shoulder: "I'm a little disappointed and surprised by the reaction of the country music industry....they do seem, Chely, to have rejected you, ever since you came out."
King also gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up the musician's new documentary about her "coming out process." The CBS personality gushed, "Chely Wright, I have to say, your documentary took my heart and ripped it out a couple times when I was watching you."
The close associate of Oprah Winfrey previewed the Wright interview: "When she opened up about being gay, the door to country music stardom closed. We're talking to Chely Wright live in Studio 57." King led the segment itself with her "heart-ripping" plug for the documentary, which is titled, "Wish Me Away." The film was directed by Beverly Kopf, a former writer for ABC's The View, who, according to an online bio, "has written and co-produced a feature-length documentary that celebrates the lives of six everyday heroes in the GLBT community," and later adds that she "resides in New York City with her partner of fifteen years."
Midway through the softball interview, which aired 10 minutes into the 8 am Eastern hour, King launched her scolding of the country music industry. Wright acknowledged that other factors contributed to her apparent diminished stardom in her reply:
KING: I'm a little disappointed and surprised by the reaction of the country music industry. Which, by the way, I like country music and think they have the nicest-
WRIGHT: I do too-
KING: I do. I think there is some of the nicest people in country music industry-
WRIGHT: There are-
KING: But they do seem, Chely, to have rejected you, ever since you came out. You've not been invited to perform or really appear at any major events. Is that a fair assessment, that you've been rejected by them?
WRIGHT: Well, as my friend Rodney Crowell said in the film - he said, I don't think it's going to be fire and brimstone. I think they're going to freeze her out. And, you know, it's not my belief that I should be performing on every awards show. There was a changing of the guard, you know? Now, it's the new Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood and Lady Antebellum, and that's all a natural part of entertainment. But what has been missing, is there's an institutionalized friendship within country music. Once you're in, and once you're one of us, you're always invited to certain things to present or be a part of it or chair a committee for the Country Music Hall of Fame, which -- I used to do things like that.
And so, it's a rejection by silence, and a rejection -- mostly, because I would like to hear a country music artist - the big ones - not just say, well, I like Chely. I like her even though she's gay. I need a country artist who is a big deal, like Jay-Z in his community. He came forward and said, I believe in equality for all-
KING: Yes, he did.
WRIGHT: I'm struggling because I have not heard that from the big stars in country music.
Near the end of the segment, co-anchor Charlie Rose gave his guest a platform to forward her left-wing cause. King also chimed in to congratulate Wright for her same-sex "marriage":
ROSE: So how will you navigate the future? You'll ask people to come forward for you? You'll continue to perform? You'll be as creative and as good as you possibly can?
WRIGHT: I have my sights set on the positive things that I can do, the advocacy groups with whom I work. You know, I don't need much from Nashville. I don't need -- I'm fine. I'm not losing sleep over the fact that no one's standing up and saying, Chely Wright has done a great thing and this is important. I'm focusing on my energies on how to work with GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network. We try eradicate bullying in public schools...my organization, Like Me - we opened a brand new LGBT center in Kansas City this spring. I'm trying to work on those things and to use my voice, to make sure that everyone out there in America knows, you do love a gay person. It might not be me, but I promise you: you have a neighbor, you have a coworker, you have a niece; and be mindful of the negative things you say about gays and lesbians, because someone is listening.
KING: Well, you said you didn't speak up. You didn't come out to shut up, and you are speaking up. And congratulations, you got married last year.
Just under three weeks earlier, on the May 12, 2012 edition of CBS This Morning, King slammed conservative Dennis Prager for supporting tradition marriage and equated it for opposing desegregation: "You recently wrote...that you can be against same-sex marriage and not be anti-gay...it's sort of like saying to a black person...I want you to sit at the back of the bus, but I'm not anti-black."
- Matthew Balan's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
or yet...
Submitted by MidAmerica on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:37pm.
It could have been worse for this girl. She could have come out as a Conservative and supported traditional values which would have immediately got her blacklisted from programs like these and Bill Maher would have made degrading sexual jokes about her.
Never heard of her. I just
Submitted by TheLoudDreamer on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 9:06pm.
Never heard of her.
I just looked her up, she sucks. But then again, I don't like Carry Underwood, and she is all the rage right now.
I just prefer The Civil Wars or Lady Antabellum or Josh Turner or Rascal Flatts or Lonestar or Tim McGraw or George Strait or ANY of the GOOD artists.
Wright was a marginal Country artist at best.
Submitted by Mike Bratton on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 10:42pm.
Honestly, it's not like the woman had Loretta Lynn stature.
"Oh, she's not getting the superstar treatment because of her sexual preference!!"
No, she's not getting the superstar treatment...
...wait for it...
...because she was never a superstar.
Imagine that.
--Mike
An unholy allience...
Submitted by Hog_Flambe on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 11:24pm.
Jello n Mojo sing about country music during the Bubba error.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPuJAr6LXeU
P.S. Doc Watson passed...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFGAq20vT0g
Bullseye!
Submitted by almostacowboy on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 6:41am.
.
The Obama-supporting anchor
Submitted by Jerry Mack on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:44pm.
Is there any other type in the LSM?
Hmmm, could King be testing the waters
Submitted by Radical1979 on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:48pm.
for her own coming out?
I'm not sure if I want to know, but I can't help but wonder what exactly goes on at a LGTB center. Are we allowed to have centers for heterosexuals?
We can have our centers, Rad,
Submitted by UpNorth on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:46pm.
but, we'll have to open them to the LuGbuT crowd, otherwise we'll be called one of them there 'phobes they always talk about.
I've wondered about her and
Submitted by ricklail on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 9:21am.
I've wondered about her and Oprah for a long time. I think they both might be AC/DC or they go both ways.
Seems she's more interested in sex
Submitted by Calypso Jones on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:48pm.
than she is in singing. Maybe that's the problem. I've never heard of her.
Gayle,
Submitted by bobsmom on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:50pm.
Does the name K.D. Lang ring a bell? Of course not, she was before your time. In a time before "gay" was cool, but conservatives didn't have a problem with it then, either.
Good point,
Submitted by RefudiateObama2012 on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:11pm.
K.D. Lang came out in 1992. She was not ostracized because of it or for her activism for gay rights. What created the most problem for her within the country music fraternity was her activism concerning PETA.
Melissa Etheridge as well
Submitted by octavioj on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 9:05pm.
Melissa Etheridge came out in 1993 and so far it does not seem like she is doing too bad. And she is country as well.
Both K.D. and Melissa know
Submitted by Willis_Leon_Johnson on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 11:00pm.
Both K.D. and Melissa know how to entertain their fans.
They also have the ability to hold their attention with TALENT that far surpasses the above listed person with a distinct whine in her voice....
End 'gun violence in America' - Require training and MANDATORY "Shall Carry" by every Citizen.
If harry reid is the best person to lead the senate, what does that say about the other 99 senators?
Sorry
Submitted by HockeyKid on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 7:12am.
I've been listening to country stations my whole life, and I have yet to hear a Melissa Etheridge song on one of them. It's not her genre.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
I never thought kd lang was
Submitted by ricklail on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 9:26am.
I never thought kd lang was that good. I don't remember hearing that much about her. I do remember she performed at the opening of the Olympics in Calgary. I was not impressed
So just being gay was supposed to make her a success?
Submitted by drsamherman on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:50pm.
As usual with Gayle King's idiotic liberal histrionics, was the expectation here that because this woman is a lesbian that her success was supposed to be automatic?
She tried to make it in country music but got shot down. Could it be maybe she is just not that talented enough to compete?
Show business is beyond fickle, but the fan base of country music remains pretty much for traditional values and forcing political correctness on that fan base is hardly going to work.
Gayle King's "special friend" Oprah found out first hand in her own network that it is very easy to overplay your hand and lose everything. Of course, Gayle is too intellectually bankrupt and morally absent to make that connection.
Just looked her up on youtube
Submitted by Calypso Jones on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:52pm.
she ain't gonna make it. No wonder she put her eggs in the comin' out basket.
And, sorry Gayle,
Submitted by bobsmom on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:53pm.
I'd way rather scold the hair color industry for telling you that red was a good color for you. Ack.
Country Music????????
Submitted by cocodrie on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:08pm.
I reject most of the so called "country music" whether it's by coonasses, rednecks, or violet colored whatevers. I come from the time when we had HILLBILLY music by artists that could play an instrument and sometimes sing.
The problem with "country music" is that it's too much like Jay-Z.
Jesus Loves You so much He died for you
These days, Coco, that is so true.
Submitted by UpNorth on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:48pm.
.
Good evening UpNorth
Submitted by cocodrie on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 9:02pm.
I spent most of the day listening to Hank Snow, one of the finest singers and guitarists ever. He was from way up north from here - Nova Scotia. The Brittish kicked my relatives out of there in the 1740s and sent us down here to live with the alligators.
Jesus Loves You so much He died for you
So Damned Tired
Submitted by bmacdmac on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:55pm.
Of these liberals telling me how to think, how I should feel. It's their way as the only right way and be damned what I think.
OH NOES...
Submitted by bigdaddy on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:56pm.
...Oprah's BFF is very displeased with the country music industry. How will they ever survive?
So let me thinks
Submitted by Indie Dude on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:57pm.
So this person is on TV giving her opinion, and concerns because she is best friends with a famous person. That qualifies her to be a TV Host? Oh, OK, I see...
Yeah!
Submitted by bobsmom on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:14pm.
I actually met Billy "Crash" Craddock once (the guy that sang "Rub it In"), so that at least qualifies me as a spokes-oldster for a sunless tanning product, right? RIGHT?!!
She's the Hillary Clinton of the entertainment industry
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:08pm.
She stayed in the background, steadfastly supporting Oprah all those years, and now dammit, it's HER time in the spotlight!
LOL
Submitted by Matthew Balan on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:09pm.
She's the Hillary Clinton of the entertainment industry
Just the latest example of why you're probably my favorite commenter on NewsBusters.
Oh, Matthew, you flatter me,
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:13pm.
Oh, Matthew, you flatter me, but thank you!
Maybe...
Submitted by dmntd1 on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:26pm.
Maybe, just maybe, the fact that she took a five year hiatus from releasing a new album?
One of my personal favorite artists, Toby Keith, releases an album every 1-2 years, and has done so for nearly two decades. He's not ignored because he's out in their face, playing, singing, recording... Oh, and his music is better than hers!
We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
the time is right, I'm coming out!
Submitted by MidAmerica on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:35pm.
I REALLY REALLY LIKE WOMEN!!
There... I feel so much better about myself. I haven't told my wife yet but I think she already suspicions it. I know my kids love me and so they will support me.
Ewe
Submitted by Boudin on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:50pm.
Your not going to try to force your sexual behaviors on the rest of us are you?
liberated
Submitted by MidAmerica on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 10:06pm.
Don't go oppressing me!
Ever since I came out I am free. No longer will I let social conventions keep me from announcing whereever I am my sexual preference. Oh sure, I see the sneers, rolling eyes and smirks women make and the cold unblinking stares from the men when I make known my sexual identity but i don't care. I am free and liberated and the whole world will have to deal with me.
Mid
Submitted by Radical1979 on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 10:15pm.
When are you having your parade? And putting out books for small children to read? Part of your coming out must be to force the rest of us to see, acknowledge, and pretend we care what you do with your sex life.
Congratulations, I'm sure your wife is yawning at your news. At least that will be my reaction when my husband comes out the way you did. ;)
confession
Submitted by MidAmerica on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 10:21pm.
I told my wife of 42 years and she laughed and said she was going shopping. I think she just needed time alone to work it all out in her mind.
I get you Mid....
Submitted by bigdaddy on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 10:52pm.
...just like a "white hispanic", you are coming out as a "hetero lesbian"...
Realize who your audience is.
Submitted by Tidy Bowl Man on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 8:49pm.
K.D. Lang, Super talented, came out gay, in the late 80's BUT talented! Most were able to "hear" around it. Then she came out a gay/vegetarian, the beef stinks commercial. Country Music is based in the south/bible belt/cattle country. Guess what. Her fans got herded away.... And while Chely has had some hits in the past, like 10 yrs ago, Country music is becoming the "pop" again and going with the flavor of the month and abandoning its older artists. Her "coming out" was a publicity stunt. Country has moved past her. Look at how many "one hit wonders" there are. Two hit wonders. What are their excuses?
George Jones hasn't appeared
Submitted by the struggler on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 9:01pm.
George Jones hasn't appeared or performed at any major events lately,either...Is he a lesbian?
We really need
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 11:38pm.
a LIKE button!!
Singers come and go
Submitted by nkviking75 on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 9:12pm.
Chely has already enjoyed greater success than most people who want to be country music stars. Even the ones who have a string of hits tend to fade out after awhile. But Chely seems to be cultivating a career as a professional lesbian. So she'll be alright.
“Always love your country — but never trust your government!" -- Bob Novak (1931-2009)
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
she fits right in
Submitted by caveman1313 on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 9:29pm.
with the "no personal responsibility" liberal crowd. she can't take responsibility that perhaps her music IS the reason she isn't getting any lovin from country fans but would rather blame it on her sexual preferences.
Country music industry much like America ...
Submitted by Arlen Cooper on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 10:07pm.
Americans don't give a damn if you're gay! They just don't give a bigger damn who or what you are having sex with. Another words, if you're perverted Chely, ... keep it to yourself. You should have stayed in the closet you might have made the Opry.
If you're a decent person and
Submitted by MWK on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 10:27pm.
If you're a decent person and don't throw your "private" life into peoples faces most don't give a rats ass what you do in your home.
I'm partial to heavy-metal and when Rob Halford(one of the best voices of any genre IMHO & my fav band) "came out" none of the metal community cared, cause he kept it to himself, sans coming out that is.
If you've talent people will buy records/tickets, if you've little to no talent, you'll go on a TV show and drum up sympathy from the libs.
Well, if you have little talent, why not find an excuse to
Submitted by Willis_Leon_Johnson on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 10:30pm.
BLAME the other person?
She may be ok on some songs, but I'm not hearing any Grammy or CMA awards talent.
My Shih Tzu has a better voice on most days, and she gets yelled at for 'singing'.
End 'gun violence in America' - Require training and MANDATORY "Shall Carry" by every Citizen.
If harry reid is the best person to lead the senate, what does that say about the other 99 senators?
Well I'm sure the CM industry
Submitted by Slyrr on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 11:29pm.
Well I'm sure the CM industry will just bend over backwards to let in gays now, Miz King - because they're only in business to get YOUR 'approval'.
Chely passed the peak of her
Submitted by eaglescout1998 on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 1:02am.
Chely passed the peak of her commercial popularity long before she "came out" as a lesbian. She parted ways with MCA Nashville in 2003 and her career never really recovered.
Even before that
Submitted by HockeyKid on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 7:24am.
My wife was a big Chely fan in the early part of her career ('94-'99), but after "Single White Female" (ironic, no?), Chely sort of fell off the face of the earth, artistically speaking. I had no idea she was switch-hitting--her music just didn't keep the standard she'd set. I remember once asking my wife, "what ever happened to Chely Wright?" She didn't know, either.
Now, instead of the unbelievably cute brunette Chely was back then, she's a bottled-semi-blonde, stringy-haired, strident activist, complaining she's been blacklisted. Bull.
But here's a clue going forward: if you're a punk rocker, and you decide to come out against dyed hair, tattoos and body piercing, you're not gonna get much traction. Same goes with every genre--if your public pronouncements run counter to your audience, you won't sell many records. Duh.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Gays Versus Normality
Submitted by berlet98 on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 2:05am.
Gays Versus Normality
Except for the deep satisfaction that comes from being demonstrably correct, there’s no upside to criticizing certain groups and people in America.
Say something negative concerning African-Americans or the president and you’re immediately branded a racist no matter how true and verifiable the critique. Say anything critical of homosexuals and you’re castigated as a hateful, homophobic Neanderthal despite the accuracy of the criticism.
However, the truth shall set you free so I’ll say and write it anyway: Gays despise normality.
Virtually everything I’ve read and seen about the homosexual community in the gay-friendly MSM depicts homosexuals as an oppressed minority who simply seek acceptance and recognition as normal people with different sexual proclivities who are misunderstood by heterosexuals.
Nothing could be farther from reality, at least for leaders in the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgendered (LGBT) movement who dictate the gay agenda.
If gays simply sought acceptance and recognition, why would they actively recruit, stage outrageous displays, and try to stifle straights when they voice their disagreement?
For example, why does the LGBT sponsor annual days of silence in schools and gay weeks where kids are encouraged to try the gay lifestyle? Why do they promote annual gay parades and other festivities where homosexuals exhibit themselves in half-naked costumes and engage in outrageously gross behaviors? Why do they push for gay days at amusement parks where they intentionally make themselves a seperate minority?
(See previous posts on all of the above.)
Such activities only accomplish shock and disgust, not acceptance and inclusion in the mainstream of society. They serve to reinforce common perceptions that gays are far from what they assert, namely just a variation on the norm.
Long before President Barack Hussein Obama’s sudden, election year “evolution” on same-sex marriage, gays had been making huge inroads within the entertainment, mass media, and other very public industries. Representing an infinitesimal 2% of our population, for some reason, homosexuals are disproportionately represented in every field from sitcoms to politics to cable news.
As for very plausible reasons? Think political correctness and gay dominance in the entertainment industry.
It may have taken his daughters to convince Obama of the moral and societal rectitude of men marrying men and women marrying women . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=24771.)
Long Winded Vesus Gasbag.
Submitted by The Vet on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 2:54am.
Oh. Looks like the Gasbag wins.
Please everyone. Please visit my blog or I will post my long winded boring screeds 6 times in 6 different blogs on your site.
Consider yourself blackmailed.
(Read more at http://www.GawdAmIBoring.com/blech1/?p-toomane.)
Alaphia
Submitted by Rukus on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 5:57am.
Would be proud. Maybe they're related?
It is a retired English teacher.
Submitted by The Vet on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 6:20am.
It has a B.A in.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Sheesh. Even it's "About Me" page is a snore. How is it possible for one guy to be so bor............
Whoops. Sorry. Drifted off just writing about it.
There is a difference
Submitted by c5then on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 8:21am.
between someone who is a good singer or has musical tallent and happens to be gay and someone who is gay and is using that to try and get people to feel sorry for them to boost their career.
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
Affirmative Action
Submitted by burnadams on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 8:46am.
I guess Obama needs to impose quotas on the entertainment industry.
He might go for requiring 10% of all country music legends must be gay. :P
Well boo hoo for her
Submitted by katiejane on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 9:10am.
As long as gays/lesbians try and make their sexual orientation their be all & end all, they run the risk of being rejected by those who find homosexuality wrong, offensive, immoral, whatever. It's the same issue some blacks have - they whine about being accepted but then they make their racial identity their primary face.
Maybe she should stop and consider that the industry has found her lacking for reasons other than her sexuality? Maybe the younger/newer generation has more fan appeal? Or does the industry owe every aging wannabie perpetual inclusion?
you can't revive a never-was just because she's gay
Submitted by rowdygirl on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 9:11am.
She had maybe one hit..? She was done before she came out. How about the fact that she's marginally talented for the lack of interest? Oh no.. that can't be it. It HAS to be that everyone else is a racist homophobe. If only she was black AND a lesbian, the left could really take up her cause.
Tam
Do you think it just might be
Submitted by John21 on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 9:57am.
Do you think it just might be that her records do not sell, they are a business not a liberal government agency like CBS, to continue to operate they must show a profit, unlike the CBS news organization.
Do you think it just might be because she "can't carry a tune in a bucket"? She has always been on the fringe or the third string backup tour kind of situation, rarely heard or seen around the country. According to you now that she has declared her homosexuality she should be a star. Why?
Have you ever heard a song done by her? Have you ever been to a concert where she performed?
Untill you have a clue what you are talking about why not just STFU.
Wright is very Wrong
Submitted by mmilesll on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 10:32am.
Maybe country music and the country music industry represent American values and if you are gay or lesbian they don't want it thrown in their face.
Mama's, don't let you babies grow up to be Lesbian Cowgirls.
Submitted by CobraMan on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 12:15pm.
Somehow, I don't think the "lesbian cowgirl" theme is going to catch on in the Country Western world any time soon. The Village People might pick her up, though.
Hay, Chely, you're not being rejected, you're being ignored! That's because nobody really cares about you or your music. When it comes to Country Music, you're inconsequential. As we say "up north" here: Bummer, eh?
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
How long before an actual Country Music STAR writes a song
Submitted by Willis_Leon_Johnson on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 2:51pm.
About the irrelevance of people like gayle king?
How rich would the humor be with such easy targets to acquire and nail with a few well chosen words and phrases?
End 'gun violence in America' - Require training and MANDATORY "Shall Carry" by every Citizen.
If harry reid is the best person to lead the senate, what does that say about the other 99 senators?
Speaking of humor...
Submitted by CobraMan on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 4:27pm.
Speaking of humor, do yo know what happens when you play a Country Music song backwards? You wife returns to your trailer with the dog and the truck.
In her case, it would be her lesbian lover returning to the condo with the toy poddle and the Chevy Volt. Just doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it?
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.