10

Loading video...

Sophie Lloyd

By Sophie Lloyd

Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter

0

Share

Newsweek is a Trust Project member

See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.


John Rich has taken aim at Eminem, suggesting the rapper's success is due to "massive budgets" and media manipulation.

While discussing his new single, "Revelation," during Tuesday's episode of Tucker Carlson's show on X, the country singer said he was "battling" the Grammy winner in the charts.

"I looked up his record, just to see that Eminem is doing," Rich told Carlson. "One of the titles on his record is just called 'Evil,' one is called 'Lucifer,' and one is called 'Antichrist.' How crazy is that?"

Read More on Entertainment

Rich said Eminem has the "entire machine behind him," such as "massive record labels" and "massive budgets to push and promote and manipulate media."

"I don't have anybody," he said. "So, to watch those two songs sit there, co-existing, was pretty striking."

John Rich, 2008 (left). Eminem, 2020

...

Newsweek has reached to Eminem for comment via email.

An outspoken Christian, Rich claimed that God "told him to write" the song, telling Carlson: "I'm not capable of writing lyrics like that."

"Last November, I'm at my house in Nashville, not thinking about writing a song about anything, and out of nowhere, it felt like a hammer had hit me in the back of the head, Boom!" Rich said.

"What is going on? What is this feeling? And this melody, and these lyrics...

"I said 'Okay, I hear ya,' grabbed my guitar off the wall, a pencil, a notebook, went and sat in a quiet room in the house and in about 60 minutes the entire song had come out."

Rich rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of country music band Lonestar, before forming Big & Rich with country singer Big Kenny in the early 2000s.

Tthe 50-year-old has become a controversial figure in recent years for his political and social views. Rich is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump and has rallied against "wokeism," regularly sharing his opinions on X.

In January 2021, Rich claimed that conservatives in country music were being "muzzled" by the music industry.

"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. #BlackBall," he wrote on X.

He has also hit out at several public figures, including President Joe Biden and his celebrity supporters including Jack Black and Mark Cuban.

View 0 Comments

Request Reprint & Licensing

Submit Correction

View Editorial & AI Guidelines