The Dixie Chicks will go down in history as one of country music's most famous acts. Not for any of their songs, but because one of them once said that George W Bush was a fat girl who cried at the end of Pretty Woman and can't throw a ball properly.
And thanks to that remark, nobody wants to touch The Dixie Chicks with a shitty stick any more. And that includes NBC – the network has decided to ban the broadcast of any commercials for the new Dixie Chicks movie Shut Up And Sing in case George W Bush sees one and decides that the head of NBC is a bit too Arab-looking for his liking. In its defence, NBC hasn't commented on this apparent censoring, leading some people to believe that banning the Dixie Chicks ads had nothing to do with politics and more to do with the network simply preferring the evergreen country stylings of Cow Cow Boogie (Moo Moo My Love) by Willie Lomax.
You'd have thought that – what with all that time spent dancing round a cow's skull to banjo music, watching all the Smoky And The Bandit movies on a permanent loop, shouting "breaker" indiscriminately into CB radios and generally looking a bit incesty – the country and western world wouldn't have too much time for many extra-curricular activities, but you'd be wrong. Country and western pin-up Keith Urban has managed to drink himself into rehab, get married to Nicole Kidman and get looked at by some people in between releasing his rubbish cowboy music, while Kenny Chesney somehow managed to squeeze in a brief burst of defrauding Renee Zellweger into his otherwise crammed schedule. Hank Williams Jr, on the other hand, apparently prefers the more traditional past-time of screaming swearwords into the faces of waitresses while choking them.
But no country and western act has come close to the level of controversy afforded to The Dixie Chicks. Before 2003, The Dixie Chicks were riding high on a twangy wave of 'sort of pretty for country singers we suppose' inoffensive cowgirl tunes. And then disaster struck; during one show in London three years ago, one of The Dixie Chicks – perhaps swept up by the excitement of seeing a car or an electric light for the very first time in her life – told the audience:
"We’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."
At first The Dixie Chicks apologised, and then withdrew their apology once they realised that every single person in America wanted to see The Dixie Chicks trampled to death by a massive herd of cattle for saying bad things about George W Bush. So, faced with such a spectacular drop-off of popularity, The Dixie Chicks did the only thing they could – they took their clothes off for a magazine and then made Shut Up And Sing, a movie where The Dixie Chicks sing a bunch of rubbishy cowboy songs, wipe their bottoms on toilet roll printed with pictures of George W Bush and run through the streets in burqas screaming "Death To America!" as loud as they can. Or perhaps they don't. Seriously, we don't know.
But just as Shut Up And Sing is about to be released, The Dixie Chicks have found themselves mired in yet more controversy; it's being claimed that TV networks NBC and the CW have banned adverts for Shut Up And Sing because of its awful political content. And now the Weinstein Co., the distributor of Shut Up And Sing, is kicking up a stink about censorship and free speech and whatnot, as E! Online reports:
According to a Weinstein release, NBC wrote it "cannot accept these spots as they are disparaging to President Bush," while the CW allegedly made the excuse that it did "not have the appropriate programming in which to schedule this spot." "It's a sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted for exercising their right of free speech is now itself being blacklisted by corporate America," Weinstein said. NBC did not comment on the claims, but the CW roundly denied that it had refused to accept the ads in question. "The release is flat-out inaccurate," network spokesman Paul McGuire said in a statement.
There's a bigger picture here, though – one that exceeds political loyalties or questions of media censorship, and it is this: who'd actually go and see a Dixie Chicks film anyway? Watching a bunch of women singing crappy fiddle-heavy songs about being lifted up on the wings of a cowboy for two hours sounds to us like the least fun way that anyone could spend an afternoon. Right?
Read more:
NBC, CW Shy Away From Chicks Flick – E! Online
[story by Stuart Heritage]
PirateJenny says
Y’know I thought the same thing – but never one to pass up a free ticket to the flicks, I went along to see it at the London Film Festival last week. Yes, the music’s tiresome in places – but that Natalie bird who spoke out – and found herself the most hated woman in America, she’s alright. This is a film that is accidentally fascinating – and a damning indictment on the way the American media is running scared of its neo-con government. As such, it’s as important to the history of ‘music & politics’ as the Lennon one – also out soon.
The road less travelled indeed…
beansox says
ohhhh nbc is so against the chicks…yet employs natalie maines husband adrian pasdar on the show “heores”. guess that throws a natalie sized monkey wrench
in their attempt to paint it as some sort of retribution against natalie.
Jesse G says
These Dixie Chicks are representative of the excessive liberal, disrespectful, and communistic attitudes many of these so-called Americans have today! They just don’t know when to shut up! Instead of respecting America, the greatest of all nations in the world, they spit on America through their spoiled, arrogant, and opinionated views. They fail to realize that this nation was forged and continued to be the world’s savior against oppression and tyranny through the courage, dedication, and even death of the many who selflessly stood up and fought for the United States of America. When was the last time any of these 3 tramps did anything for America other than to desecrate its great name! I say that they should be dealt with just as that idiot Linda Ronsdant, pack their crap and toss them out ! ! !
MJN1957 says
Natalie Maines? is she the fat one?