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Zach Bryan, the country singer of Brianna Chickenfry breakup infamy, has found himself caught in the crosshairs of a tense political debate. Last week, the 29-year-old teased a song ostensibly criticizing ICE, surprising people on pretty much all ends of the political spectrum. Since then, a slew of conservative figures, including the White House and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have expressed their disdain for the snippet, with Noem accusing Bryan of being “disrespectful.” All this and the track doesn’t even have a release date yet. Here’s what’s happened so far.
First things first: What’s in the song?
The dust-up began last week, when Bryan posted a preview of an unreleased track titled “Bad News” to Instagram with the caption, “the fading of the red white and blue.” The lyrics referenced ICE’s ongoing mass deportation campaign: “ICE is gonna come bust down your door / Try to build a house, no one builds no more, well I got a telephone / Kids are all scared and all alone.”
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Is Zach Bryan actually anti-ICE?
The country-music industry has a notorious habit of platforming and protecting conservative male stars, including Morgan “Get me to God’s country” Wallen, who was caught using a racial slur in a 2021 video recording. But Bryan, who’s a U.S. Navy veteran, hadn’t really made his stance on immigration known prior to the “Bad News” teaser. In a 2022 interview with the New York Times, he described himself as a “total libertarian” who does not identify with either political party. In 2023, he pushed back against one of his fellow country stars, Travis Tritt, who’d announced plans to boycott Anheuser-Busch for including Dylan Mulvaney, a trans woman, in its Bud Light ad campaign. “Insulting transgender people is completely wrong,” Bryan wrote on Twitter, tagging Tritt and adding that “we live in a country where we can all just be who we want to be.”
How is everyone responding?
Whatever Bryan’s personal politics are, MAGA is, predictably, having a meltdown about this particular clip. More than a few conservative personalities took to X to express their disdain. One such user wrote, “Newsflash, buddy: Your redneck fanbase ain’t buying your woke sob story. Stick to heartbreak ballads before you tank your career like the Dixie Chicks,” while another wrote, “No talent Zach Bryan ‘Bud Lighted’ whatever career he had, lol.”
Bryan’s relatively tame lyric also managed to piss off both the White House and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. In a statement to Newsweek, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson condemned the song. “While Zach Bryan wants to Open The Gates to criminal illegal aliens and has Condemned heroic ICE officers, Something in the Orange tells me a majority of Americans disagree with him and support President Trump’s great American Revival,” Jackson said, referencing three of Bryan’s song titles. “Godspeed, Zach!” (Make that four.) The fact that the White House had time to draft a statement with this many song puns is concerning.
In a clip posted by TMZ on Wednesday, Noem, who’s been orchestrating highly publicized ICE raids across the country, told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that she hopes Bryan “understands how completely disrespectful that song is, not just to law enforcement but to this country.” “To every single individual that has stood up and fought for our freedoms,” she went on. “He just compromised it all by putting out a product such as that, that attacks individuals who are just trying to make our streets safe.” In an apparent attempt at a burn, Noem claimed she never listened to Bryan’s music and that she was thrilled she “never once gave [him] a single penny.” As punishment, she said she intends to download songs from more outwardly conservative (or, in some cases, racist) country stars like Jason Aldean, John Rich, Jon Pardi, and Kid Rock because “those guys know what it means to stand up to freedom.”
And what does Bryan say?
Well, he’s not exactly ten toes down on an anti-ICE stance. In a statement posted to his Instagram Stories Tuesday, the singer clarified that he wrote “Bad News” “months ago” and is neither “left wing or right wing … we’re all one bird and American.” “This shows you how divisive a narrative can be when shoved down our throats through social media,” he added. “This song is about how much I love this country and everyone in it more than anything. When you hear the rest of the song, you will understand the full context that hits on both sides of the aisle.”
“I wasn’t speaking as a politician or some greater-than-thou asshole, just a 29 year old man who is just as confused as everyone else,” he went on. “To see how much shit it stirred up makes me not only embarrassed but kind of scared … To be clear I’m on neither of these radical sides.”
Bryan’s statement doesn’t actually clarify much — aside from assuaging his Republican fans — but at least we now know for certain that he falls on the “one bird” section of the political spectrum. Enlightening.
Bryan’s representatives declined to comment on his behalf.
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