Country Star John Rich Says Conservative Rockers Are Being ‘Muzzled’ by the Industry

Country star John Rich revealed this week that fellow artists have told him that they are being “muzzled” by the industry “when it comes to them expressing their frustration and anger about the targeting of conservatives.”

“The list of country artists calling me is growing by the day who are saying they’re being ‘muzzled’ by the industry when it comes to them expressing their frustration and anger about the targeting of conservatives, and suppression of free speech by the powers that be,” the Big & Rich star said in a tweet to his 259,000 Twitter followers alongside the hashtag “#BlackBall.”

In another tweet, Rich went off on Big Tech for censoring conservatives, exclaiming that “free speech means SPEAKING FREELY.”

“When ‘fact checkers’ wipe out platforms based on their ‘opinion’ of what you say being True/False, it’s akin to historic movements that always ended in disaster,” he added.

Last week, the “Ragtop Cadillac” artist revealed that he had lost 10,000 Twitter followers in a 12-hour timespan — a phenomenon that coincided with social media giants cracking down on President Trump’s accounts, with Twitter permanently banning the president’s personal account from the platform.

“Lost 10k followers in 12 hours. It’s an honor to be attacked for professing my loyalty to God, Country and family,” the “Tequila Talkin’” singer said. “If big tech liked me, I’d take it as an insult. #OnwardChristianSoldiers”

Big Tech has continued the purge of conservative accounts in the days following the January 6th Capitol riot, which they primarily blame on President Trump. The Apple App store has since suspended Parler, a free speech platform embraced by conservatives, with Amazon booting it off the web hosting service.

Speaking at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Policy Orientation in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), an ally of the president, identified the censorship of conservatives as “probably the most important legislative issue that we’re going to have to get right this year and next year.”

Americans must “really think deeply about if we are a disfavored class based on our principles, based on having conservative views, based on being a Christian, based on whatever you can say that is not favored in Silicon Valley,” he said.