I’ve realized two things very recently. One, it’s very easy for people to mock up fake tweets and attribute those “screencapped tweets” to celebrities. Two, that there are a lot white folks who are really salty that they can’t be openly racist, sexist and homophobic anymore, and those folks are waging a war against “political correctness.” Blake Shelton is one of those people, recently praising Donald Trump for showing white heterosexual men that they don’t have to be “so afraid” of being openly bigoted towards other people. But here’s the question: was Blake Shelton openly tweeting a bunch of racist, sexist and homophobic crap back in, say, 2011? That’s what people claimed over the weekend, as allegedly screencapped tweets from Blake started making their way around media outlets – you can see some of the alleged tweets here.
While Blake is a big tweeter – he really is, he spends a lot of time talking to his fans on Twitter – some of the tweets don’t really sound like Blake, or 2011-version Blake. My first thought was “Huh, I wonder if someone mocked those up.” But then when I was researching this story, I found this incident from 2011 (the same timeframe) where Blake really did tweet some homophobic crap and then he had to issue an apology and clarification. So, obviously, people were watching his Twitter back then and jumping on everything he said – so why are these seemingly old tweets just coming to light now? In any case, Blake wants to shut down the stories. And so does NBC and The Voice.
NBC’s “The Voice” is straining over a scandal involving Blake Shelton’s alleged racist, homophobic and just-plain-creepy tweets. After social-media mavens managed to dig up the offending messages — which were posted between 2010 and 2011, before Shelton became a household name — we’re told that publicists for the NBC talent show called at least one major media outlet and threatened to cut off access to the show’s stars, and tapings, if it continued to cover the kerfuffle.
Sure enough, while links to stories about the fan backlash and his family’s reaction can still be found on a certain entertainment news site, by Tuesday they led to blank pages. The Twitter uproar began Saturday when Shelton’s tweets — which went under the radar when they were posted, since Shelton had yet to join hit “The Voice” and was still a niche, country musician — were re-posted online.
In the cache of messages were offensive remarks including, “wish the [bleep]head in the next room would either shut up or learn some English so I would at least know what he’s planning to bomb,” and, “standing in line at a coffee shop in LA talking with the man in front of me. He orders a skinny caramel latte. I couldn’t tell he was gay!!!”
In another, Shelton said he was “flying home to sleep with two young blonde and black haired bitches,” and bizarrely, when referring to then-16-year-old actress Dakota Fanning, he wrote “Soo . . . I just figured out a great excuse for my sick fantasy about Dakota Fanning. I thought she was Amanda Seyfried.”
Said a Page Six source, “His people think this will blow over, but as the scandal unfolded reps for ‘The Voice’ called at least one site and asked them not to run [coverage] in exchange for continued access to the show,” which might include perks like interview opportunities with stars Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine, as well as tickets to tapings. Reps for “The Voice” didn’t get back to us, and a rep for Shelton declined to comment.
The fact that Blake hasn’t just come out and said, “these tweets aren’t real” makes me suspicious. But he might just be getting advice from NBC corporate trying to “manage” the crisis. And while I don’t think much of Blake overall, I just find it hard to believe that he would tweet some of that sh-t. He wasn’t just a “niche” country star in 2010-11. He was one of the biggest country stars in the country, and in 2011, he joined The Voice because he was so well-known and well-liked. I guess I just don’t know what to believe. But threatening media outlets probably isn’t the best solution?
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
He’s a white heterosexual male. That’s the epitome of privilege. I not only believe he said all that stuff. I fully believe he thought his good old boy, happy redneck image meant people wouldn’t go looking for his old stuff. And they did and he’s busted. What’s there to say when that’s who he was/is. /Kanye shrug
^^^this
Country music has always made a nice warm bed for racists and homophobes. I am sure he tweeted this crap. Look how he treated his relationships if you want a clue as to his character
I used to follow him on Twitter years ago but I stopped after the homophobic posts. They are true. Blake would drunk Tweet and totally expose himself for the bigoted idiot he is.
Me too! Followed him back around 2011 and remember he had to apologize for his tweets when his new album was coming out. I follow a lot of raunchy comedians and sarcastic Twitter accounts…and remember unfollowing Blake at that time due to how offensive his stuff got.
I like country music, but he really pushes his “aw shucks ma’am” persona. His one song brags about the confederate flag he hangs in the back of his pickup. He also pretends to tweet kind of nasty messages during his concerts.
Not only that, I very much doubt that he believes he did anything wrong. People of his ilk are generally loud, proud, and open about their racism/sexism/chauvinism/gross sexual preferences.
I feel exactly the same way. I believe he wrote all those tweets mention and more.
You nailed it. I live in the American South and… yeah. I almost feel like I should apologize on his behalf but.. I mean, I’m not even a fan. Apparel hat makes me even less culpable? I dunno. I wish asshole would keep their assholery to themselves.
When will theyou ever learn? Smdh.
Probably just easier to hire someone less gross.
What an ass. How can Gwen like a man like that?
Seriously. She needs to run away.
Liking him less and less every day.
Second Blake Shelton Story wherein I Comment:
SO SHOCKING, SO UNEXPECTED!!
This.
He has used the “genuine country boy” line as an excuse for years!
And just because people like him on the Voice doesn’t mean he’s not a jerk. He can be a good musician, funny, friendly, down to earth and generous to his contestants, and STILL be a redneck racist homophobic ass.
I completely agree.
I’m interested in seeing what Lainey Gossip has to say about this she loves Blake and is always giving him a pass.
Exactly. He’s always been a really gross, creepy guy. Never understood why some commenters here swoon over him. He seems like a total bro to me.
I don’t get the swoon ether.
I also don’t get the joy people had when Gwen publicly showed they are dating. People trash Gabin, but where happy Gwen was dating a guy who cheated on his first wife and cheated on his second wife while trashing her in the media for cheating.
Maybe it didnt raise any attention because many of his twitter followers hold the same attitudes and those who dont, ride with the “anti PC” posse anyway.
Not shocking that he said it, at all.
Very shocking that this keeps happening – and by this, I mean a major network not making their stars go through their Twitter timeline and delete the offensive crap. Like, really? When Comedy Central failed to do it with Trevor Noah, that was stupid. Now you have NBC failing to do it. Like, really?
Too self-important, or stupid, to think twice about the incessant need to ‘share’ every thought that comes into his head..like a repackaged trump
I’ve never had any reason to like or dislike Blake- I don’t listen to his music or watch his show. He has now given me a reason to very strongly dislike him.
I don’t mean to get heavy and political but this is why WE MUST GET OUT AND VOTE. On a daily basis I am shocked and dismayed at the Pro Trump/anti PC people I encounter. It’s not going to be the landslide we are predicting. A lot of Blake “average white angry joes” out there, all I’m saying. And misogynists who can’t vote for a woman of course.
That’s not too political at all and I completely agree with you.
Absolutely vote! It is a precious right and we must exercise it. I plan to vote by mail because I think the voting places will be overwhelmed that day. But what a luxury that is compared to many areas of the world. I’m making plans to avoid parking hassles and long lines while in some places people walk miles and endure threats in order to vote.
I agree. The crowds Trump draws because of his hate-filled rhetoric is depressing. They love having a candidate saying what they think.
The whole ‘War Against Political Correctness” thing absolutely baffles me. People constantly wish for negativity and hateful comments to come to an end, but the moment someone says or does something thoughtful and sensible, they can’t have it. What the Hell???
I don’t get it either. People can still say whatever racist or bigoted crap comes into their little pea brains. They just can’t insist that there be no consequences for it. Apparently this is just a terrible, unreasonable burden. Boo hoo and all that.
There ARE genuine examples of language gone crazy (like a black councilman claiming the term “black hole” is racist – yes, it happened – or a mother of a child with dwarfism campaigning against “offensive” midget gherkins – yes, it also happened). But in reality, most “PC” speech is just asking people to be considerate and treat others in the manner you’d like to be treated. People who rail against it are generally just pissed that they can’t be as offensive as they wish without pushback. The best ones, for me personally, are when people cry “I’m allowed to have an opinion!!!” It’s like they really believe that they MUST get their offensiveness out, lest they, what, explode? It makes no sense to me.
Social media make it much harder for celebs to manage their image and privacy. But when they’re their own worst enemy and get stupid on Twitter, then I have no sympathy. BS ( how perfect!) is basically like I imagined him…a jackass.
Before The Voice he had a ton of fans, but was still in a somewhat niche area of fame. A lot of his fans would have shared the same views (some of this stuff would play just fine in a country song), and a lot of them would have found them distasteful, but not at all unusual or shocking. There are so many country stars with really unpleasant histories of racism, misogyny and homophobia, so if that’s your favourite genre, it’s something you put up with to some extent and rarely something that’s taken mainstream. It’s the same with rap and heavy metal and so on. These things are pretty self-contained within genre fandoms until someone who’s broken into the mainstream says something dumb in a mainstream publication.
In this case, Shelton backed Trump and said a bunch of nonsense that clued people outside of his core fan base into the fact that it might be worth doing some digging.
Not at all surprising. You’d think NBC would check into his past comments a little before backing up the truck o’cash, but I guess not.
Wasn’t it his ex, Miranda that had come out strong against Chris Brown? That’s great and all, but maybe she should have started closer to home.
Miranda is a wee bit hypocritical herself. She went after Chris Brown, claiming to abhor DV, but soon after took part in a tribute performance and gushed over Glenn Campbell, who hit Tanya Tucker so hard he actually knocked a few of her teeth out. So Miranda’s concern only extends to those outside of her own genre. She isn’t exactly consistent.
Just when I thought I couldn’t like him less…
Also, doesn’t he look like Tweety Bird?
Going home to sleep with the blonde and black-haired bitches, I thought he was talking about his dogs. He and Miranda had a lot of rescue animals.
He DID mean that. People who didn’t know him any better wouldn’t know that, though.
I’ve noticed that Gwen has gotten a lot of noticeable work do to her face since she started dating him and how Miranda lost a tone of weight when she got with him. I wonder if his first wife went physically change too when she was with him.
She’s been getting work done WELL before he came into her life.
I hope his feelings have evolved in the past few years and he isn’t as insecure/ignorant when it comes to sexuality, but if he hasn’t changed, then Gwen needs to dump his ass.
Shelton is a good example of what is going on with the Nashville country music biz. So much pandering to the sexist and racist fans with a figurehead like him, while the worker bee song writers and session players are underpaid and go along with this faked up mythmaking to make a living. Record label execs fly back and forth between Los Angeles and Nashville, laughing all the way to the bank.
He just released a statement about it. The typical apology-non apology kind.