Thursday, July 11, 2013

Steve Grand comes out; NME promotes idea that "that shit is wrong"

You know, if you're going to come out, and you're a country musician, you might as well really come out.

Steve Grand's done it by releasing this:

... and then saying 'oh, and that's autobiographical'.

It's just a bit grim that it's 2013, and an out country (as opposed to alt country) artist is a rarity. uproxx.com provided some context:

Before country musician Steve Grand uploaded “All-American Boy” to YouTube, the most prominent Google search result for “gay country song” was a link to Yahoo! Answers. Three years ago, “Gex” asked, “Is their any gay country song?” to which “ihatebho” replied, “Another song dealing with homosexuality: Ain’t Going Down On Brokeback Mountain by Willie Nelson,” which, yes, is a real song, with the refrain “That sh*t ain’t right.”
I'm sorry, Willie Nelson did what? (He even works in a gag about bumming, like he's seven years old.)

Even more surprisingly, the NME is hosting the video. Yes, that's the NME with a page dedicated to a song which says that homosexuality is wrong.

Obviously, it's been somehow auto-generated and the paper tartly disclaims any responsibility:
DISCLAIMER: The video content provided on this page is generated by YouTube and consequently features user-generated content. While we do our best to stop offensive material appearing, NME.COM cannot be held responsible for all of the material that may be displayed on this page. If you object to any video, please visit the YouTube Abuse and Policy Centre
- but, frankly, that's not good enough. What actions have the NME taken that it feels is "doing our best"? And why on earth should someone complain to YouTube because the NME has embedded something homophobic on it's site?


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