ABC’s “Good Morning America” devoted a recent segment to talking about the divisive message of Oliver Anthony’s overnight smash hit country song, “Rich Men North of Richmond.”
The song, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs and has been streamed over 17 million times since it went viral online in recent weeks, has bothered some critics with its message of American elites keeping middle Americans down.
“GMA” fixated on this controversy Wednesday, noting how the song has created “division” with its “no-frills attack on the powerful” and mentioned critics’ claims that it has “racially tinged dog whistles.”
When previewing ABC’s story on the hit song, GMA anchor George Stephanopoulos equated it with scandal right out of the gate. He said, “Coming up on ‘GMA Morning Menu,’ the factory worker behind the surprise No. 1 hit ‘Rich Men North of Richmond.’ We’re going to tell you why there’s division over the song’s message.”ABC correspondent Chris Connelly delivered the report about Anthony and his instant smash hit, framing it within the controversy. He opened, saying, “Out of nowhere to the top of the charts, ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ by Oliver Anthony Music is pointing fingers.”
In between Connelly’s voiceovers, ‘GMA’ played clips of Anthony’s live performance of the song on the YouTube channel RadioWV. The song features lyrics about ordinary middle class Americans trying to eke out a living while the titular rich men seek to raise prices and control every aspect of their lives.
After part of Anthony’s chorus played, Connelly continued, “‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ is a no-frills attack on the powerful, and controversially, on far less powerful targets as well.” The report then jumped to Anthony’s lament about the “obese milking welfare.”
After spending a beat mentioning how popular the song has gotten in such a short time, the ‘GMA’ report went back to fixating on the song’s divisiveness. Connelly continued, saying, “Fans hear an authentic, from-the-heart hit that’s speaking on behalf of an overlooked America. Critics hear racially tinged dog whistles.”
The report provided some brief background on the singer, noting that he has previously insisted he is “dead center” politically. It provided a short clip of him stating both sides of the political spectrum “serve the same master, and that master is not someone of any good to the people of this country.”
Connelly also shared Anthony’s recent Facebook post describing how he came to write the song. In it, the songwriter claimed, “I wrote the music I wrote because I was suffering with mental health and depression.” Other media outlets have described Anthony’s song in partisan political terms. The Seattle Times called it a “right-wing anthem,” while an NBC News report called it a “conservative anthem.”
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