Country singer John Rich debuted his new song “Shut Up About Politics” during an appearance on The Five on Thursday, in an attempt to encourage people to separate political debate from their everyday lives.
Rich, of the country music duo Big & Rich, played the song in the show’s New York studio after it was co-written by The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld, who explained that he wanted to warn people that politics is only great “when you separate it from all the other fun stuff in life.”
“We had the chat about it would be fun to come up with a song when you guys came to Nashville and you [Gutfeld] said, ‘I’ll send you some ideas,” Rich said about Gutfield’s input. “You had some really good lines and ‘shut up about politics’ was in there and so I pulled that one out and built the song.”
The country singer also confirmed that proceeds from the single will go to Folds of Honor, a non-profit that provides scholarships to the family members of disabled and fallen services members.
“Well, we thought if we’re going to go through this whole process of recording it, why not go ahead and put it up online where people can download it?” Rich said. “It’s 99 cents and 100 percent of that 99 cents goes to these guys — to Folds of Honor.”
Rich has previously spoken out about his political views. Last December, he called out fellow country stars Dierks Bentley and Tyler Hubbard over their support for gun control legislation.
“The issue with gun control, you look at it and you go, ‘These maniacs, these vicious people are taking a weapon and shooting people with it,’” he said at the time. “And then the flip side of that is, right now, I’m in New York City and back in Nashville is my wife and my two little kids. And if somebody breaks into my house, which rifle would you suggest I tell my wife to grab?”
“Which one should she grab? The one that gives her the best chance at protecting her and my kids or the one that doesn’t?” he continued. “Those are the types of questions I would like to ask them.”
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