Oliver Anthony said in a video response that he “hates” the way his lyrics are being “weaponized.”
Singer Oliver Anthony came out with a critical response to the way his viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” was used on Wednesday when the song was played at the beginning of the in Milwaukee and prompted the first question by Fox News moderator Martha MacCallum.
“The one thing that has bothered me is seeing people wrap politics up into this,” Anthony says in a 10-minute video released on YouTube.
The song — which describes a deep divide between wealthy and poor Americans — shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week, making him the first artist to do so without having any prior chart history. The 31-year-old country singer is based in Farmville, Virginia, but it wasn’t until a video of his performance posted to WV Radio’s YouTube, which features country, bluegrass and folk musicians in Appalachia, went viral and his musical career took off.
“It was funny seeing my song at the presidential debate,” Anthony says in the video, “because I wrote that song about those people.”
During the debate, MacCallum begins her first question by describing the No.1 hit and saying Anthony’s lyrics “speak of alienation, of deep frustration with the state of government and of this country,” adding, “Washington, D.
