Back in 2003, the late Toby Keith was embroiled in a feud with the Dixie Chicks over comments Natalie Maines made about President Bush and the Iraq War. Keith was notably and outwardly patriotic, and clashed with those who were outspoken against the war at the time. Maines was one of those people he clashed with.
Videos by American Songwriter
From the stage at a show in London just before the start of the war, Maines claimed that she was “ashamed” to be from the same state as then-President Bush. She said, “We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”
These comments began a downward spiral for the Dixie Chicks’ career, yet the band always stood by their beliefs and didn’t let listeners’ reactions sway them from their opinions. However, it wasn’t just listeners who boycotted the band. Radio stations pulled their music, or banned them completely from the air. They were on top of the world one moment. In the next, they were the most hated band in the nation.
Don Ienner, who became president of Sony Music U.S. in 2003, said to Billboard in 2022, “It was literally overnight. I had never seen the venom or the hatred in the United States of America, where we’re supposed to have freedom of speech.”
[RELATED: Country Singer and Songwriter Toby Keith Dies at 62 Following Stomach Cancer Battle]
Toby Keith Once Shamed the Dixie Chicks Over Their Comments
The comments, while not aimed at Toby Keith, angered him. Just a year before, he released his patriotic anthem “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.” He was a staunch supporter of the war and of President Bush. At shows, he displayed Natalie Maines’ photo next to a photo of Saddam Hussein, seemingly insinuating she was a terrorist. This led to Maines infamously wearing a homemade t-shirt on tour spelling out “F.U.T.K.”
In retaliation, the Dixie Chicks stayed strong. They appeared nude on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, covered in paint spelling out words like “big mouth” and “traitors.” Even with all the hate, they became Billboard‘s top-selling country tour in 2003 partially because of their defiance.
Dale Carter, morning host of KFKF Kansas City, told Billboard, “If they’d come out and apologized and said, ‘Whoops!’ — country audiences are very forgiving. The fact that [Maines] doubled down on it just cemented where it went.”
A Change of Heart
The feud with Keith ended abruptly in 2003, and it was actually Toby Keith who ended it. Allegedly, that August, a member of Keith’s band lost their 2-year-old daughter to cancer. Keith learned about it and it made him reconsider what he was doing.
“A few days after I found she didn’t have long to live,” he told Contact Music in 2003, “I saw a picture on the cover of Country Weekly with a picture of me and Natalie and it said, ‘Fight to the Death’ or something. It seemed so insignificant. I said, ‘Enough is enough.'”
At the time, Keith was adamant that he didn’t start the feud. “People try to make everything black and white,” he told Contact. “I didn’t start this battle. They started it with me; they came out and just tore me up. One thing I’ve never, ever done, out of jealousy or anything else, is to bash another artist and their artistic license.”
Featured Images by Rusty Russell/Getty Images; ShowBizIreland.com/Getty Images
