The country singer whose onstage swipe at one president got her blacklisted by country radio has drawn a response from this White House aimed at the size of her brain.
The White House called The Chicks singer Natalie Maines a “despicable nobody” in a statement to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Oct. 14, prompted by Maines’ remarks about President Donald Trump from the stage of New York City’s Beacon Theater. “Natalie Maines is a despicable nobody who clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted her peanut-sized brain,” the statement said.
Maines turned 52 on Oct. 14. A representative for Maines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The insult was not a first. A profanity-filled Instagram message from Maines in May took aim at a Trump plan, costing taxpayers $1.7 billion, to pay allies who had been investigated during the Biden years. The White House answered that post with a similar “despicable nobody” statement.
A Big Wet Kiss for Bush
Maines made the remarks Monday, Oct. 12, at the Beacon Theater, onstage with bandmates Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire. Before she spoke, the band screened a vintage montage of TV pundits and ordinary people in an uproar over the notion that someone might not like a sitting president.
She told the crowd, “Now I’d give George [W.] Bush a big wet kiss,” adding, “’Cause now we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from the United States.” Maines vowed she would “never” give in to the “shut up and sing” crowd. The band, she said, had once believed the 2003 backlash was as bad as things could possibly get.
The Obamas came up later in the show, with Maines praising “all the positive things they did and continue to do,” then drawing a line between that era and this one. Maines said later in the show, “So different than the deranged nut job we have right now.”
Not Everyone in the Beacon Cheered
Fans split over the remarks, and some in the room applauded. One online complaint cited a $1,500 ticket and politics attached to the music.
Others lined up behind her. “It was the correct thing to say back then and is definitely the correct thing to say now. Bravo Chicks,” one Instagram user wrote. Another posted, “The chicks are on the right track.”
Nashville Never Fully Took Them Back
Maines had deliberately echoed what she said on March 10, 2003, to a London audience, as the U.S. prepared to invade Iraq: that the president of the United States came from Texas and her band was ashamed of it. Country radio pulled their singles. Other artists in the genre told them to be quiet, conservative commentators branded them unpatriotic, and fans organized boycotts and protests. The death threats grew serious enough to warrant the FBI stepping in.
The group answered in 2006 with “Taking the Long Way,” produced by Rick Rubin. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums, and it won best country album at the 2007 Grammys along with the top prize, album of the year. Lead single “Not Ready to Make Nice” reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 and took three Grammys, including song and record of the year. The controversy also produced the song “Easy Silence” and the documentary “Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing.”
Nashville never fully welcomed them back. Hot Country Songs, a chart on which the band had six No. 1s before 2003, pushed “Not Ready to Make Nice” no higher than No. 36, and their best showing there since is No. 20, for “Gaslighter” in 2020. A Texas native, Maines joined the group in 1995, and 13 Grammy Awards have gone to The Chicks, formerly The Dixie Chicks, in the years since. The band performed “Goodbye Earl” on the 2016 DCX MMXVI World Tour in front of a backdrop showing Trump defaced as the devil.
Three Closing Nights at the Dolby
The Beacon show was one of three dates there on The Chicks’ “Taking the Long Way 20th Anniversary Tour,” which plays the 2006 album start to finish before a “best of” encore. The run continues through early November, with stops in Seattle on Oct. 25 and 26 and San Francisco on Oct. 29 and 30. The band closes with three nights at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, Nov. 1-3.
