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By Shannon Power
Pop Culture & Entertainment Reporter
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Beyoncé dipping her toes into country music is like "a dog peeing on a tree" to mark her territory, according to a former TV star.
Dukes of Hazzard actor John Schneider slammed the entertainment industry for not letting conservatives have country music to themselves in a new interview.
Beyoncé surprised everyone when she released two new country songs on Sunday, "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages." She also revealed she would be dropping an entire country album on March 29.
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But not everybody was happy about, with some country stations refusing to play her new music.
Schneider appeared on the OAN network to share his thoughts and was asked by the host about how the entertainment world and "lefties" has to "seize every aspect" of culture.
"They've got to make their mark, like a dog at a dog walk park, you know every dog has to mark every tree, so that's what's going on here," he said.
The clip was shared to X, formerly Twitter, with people weighing in with their own opinions.
"Country music was created by Black folks," replied one person.
Another added: "Cross overs are not new. Paul McCartney released a country song 50 years ago (Country Dreamer and Sally G)...even the Stones had a huge country influence (Dead Flowers Far Away Eyes) so don't understand this about Beyoncé unless it's because she's .... [Black]."
And a third commented: "But Beyoncé is from Texas ....."
Beyoncé's new music has stirred up debate about the origins of country music and Black people's role in creating it.
Filmmaker Ken Burns delved into the topic for his 2019 documentary, Country Music.
He examined how African and African-American music and instruments helped lead to the creation of the genre.
"African American style was embedded in country music from the very beginning of its commercial history. You can't conceive of this music existing without this African American infusion. But then, as the music developed professionally, too often, African Americans were forgotten," historian Bill C. Malone says in the documentary.
...
Burns himself said in a 2019 interview with Pitchfork: "I've been working on a documentary of the history of country music for the past eight years and people everywhere want to in-silo country music into its own narrow thing.
"Country music is telling stories that all of us experience."
Update 02/15/24, 4:20 a.m. This article was updated to include additional information.
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