A fight breaking out between Kris Kristofferson and Toby Keith at a Willie Nelson birthday concert sounds more like a set-up for a country music joke than an actual event that happened, but depending on who you ask, the altercation was hardly a joke. According to actor Ethan Hawke, who shared the alleged encounter in a 2009 write-up for Rolling Stone, the story is as true as the sky-high tension that permeated the air backstage.
Toby Keith called it malarkey (more specifically, a “fictitious f***ing lie”). Kris Kristofferson called it “nonsense” but took a more neutral stance on the story, saying he didn’t remember the altercation but that his wife did. And frankly, given both artists’ outspoken political stances, it’s not hard to imagine such an interaction would have occurred.
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As for the Waylon Jennings comment at the end of the interaction? Well, that colorful tidbit doesn’t necessarily sound off-brand, either.
A Backstage Fight Between Kris Kristofferson and Toby Keith
Ethan Hawke set the scene beautifully in his Rolling Stone article: the year was 2003, and a star-studded lineup of performers had gathered at the Beacon Theatre in New York to celebrate Willie Nelson’s 70th birthday. Hawke, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, and Paul Simon were just some of the mega-stars that were leaning against the backstage wall in the dark. Toby Keith, who had released the post-9/11 political rager, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue,” the previous year, approached Nelson to wish him a happy birthday.
“As he passed Kristofferson in one long, confident stride, out of the corner of his mouth came, ‘None of that lefty s*** out there tonight, Kris,” Hawke recalled. Kristofferson replied, “What the f*** did you just say to me?” That prompted a groan from Nelson, who implored Keith not to “rile up” his Highwaymen bandmate. “You heard me,” Keith replied, walking away. “Don’t turn your back to me, boy,” Kristofferson called out.
“You ever worn your country’s uniform?” Kristofferson continued, to which Keith replied, “What?” “Don’t ‘what?’ me, boy!” Kristofferson replied. “You just don’t like the answer. I asked, ‘Have you ever served your country?’ The answer is no, you have not. Have you ever killed another man? Huh? Have you ever taken another man’s life and then cashed the check your country gave you for doing it? No, you have not. So, shut the f*** up.”
Hawke continued his story, recounting the events that happened immediately after. “You know what Waylon Jennings said about guys like him?” Hawke recalled Kristofferson asking him. “They’re doing to country music what pantyhose did to finger f***ing.”
The Players Respond To The Alleged Scene
At face value, it wouldn’t take too far a stretch of the imagination to picture Kris Kristofferson and Toby Keith facing off on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Nor would it take much convincing to believe Waylon Jennings would deliver a colorful hot take like his pantyhose comparison. Nonetheless, Toby Keith denounced Hawke’s story at the 2009 ACM Awards. He criticized Hawke’s account, citing the fact that the actor name-dropped virtually everyone in the theater besides Keith.
“He did everything he could to make his story the greatest story ever in Rolling Stone,” Keith said. “It was a fictitious f***ing lie. Okay? Why didn’t he call my name? Why didn’t he say Toby Keith walked through and said this s***? You know why. He didn’t want to f***ing deal with the aftermath.”
In a subsequent statement, Kristofferson said he was friends with Toby Keith and Ethan Hawke. The “Me and Bobby McGee” songwriter said he had read the story and thanked the actor for it but didn’t recall the incident. However, in a later conversation with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Kristofferson conceded that his wife remembered the event taking place. “That’s something that happened six years ago,” Kristofferson continued. “I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast.”
Considering Keith and Kristofferson’s individual reputations surrounding their outspoken political beliefs (and the fact that Kristofferson’s wife confirmed it happened), we don’t doubt the backstage back-and-forth took place. Still, Kristofferson’s conveniently forgetful stance and his willingness to call Keith a friend months later proved the interaction didn’t spur too much bad blood.
Photo by Frank Mullen/WireImage