Viral “right-wing” country song ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ branded “offensive” and “fatphobic”

nme.com:

sellin’ my soul” for “bullshit pay“. He also lambasts politicians and the “rich men north of Richmond” who “just wanna have total control“.The song raises societal problems like homelessness and the country’s mental health crisis, but also sees Anthony punch down on the “obese milkin’ welfare“, singing that that “if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds / Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds.”The country track has been praised on social media by right-wing media figures including Dan Bongino and Matt Walsh.

Republication representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, meanwhile, described it as “the anthem of the forgotten Americans who truly support this nation and unfortunately the world”.However others have criticised the song for being “fatphobic” and offensive.One X (formerly Twitter) user wrote that the song is “so uniquely offensive to me as a Virginian, a guitarist, a songwriter, a lover/ interpreter of folk music, a worker and an anti-fascist that I’m kinda hung up on it.”I'm sorry I keep posting about Oliver Anthony but that shit is so uniquely offensive to me as a Virginian, a guitarist, a songwriter, a lover/interpreter of folk music, a worker and an anti-fascist that I'm kinda hung up on it— the modern folk (@themodernfolk) August 14, 2023Another wrote that the song is not “some ode to the working class”, but rather a “reactionary tune that perpetuates fatphobia and the classic ‘welfare queen’ trope popularised by [former president] Reagan.“It vaguely critiques the wealthy yet directly/inaccurately blames the poor for ‘milkin’’ the system.”"Rich Men North of Richmond" isn't some ode to the working class.