I’m Oliver Anthony, and I don’t approve this message.
The person behind the No. 1 blue-collar anthem “Wealthy Men North of Richmond” shared his thoughts about his song being brought up within the Republican presidential debate on Wednesday.
“It was funny seeing my song at that presidential debate because I wrote that song about those people, you realize, so for them to have to sit down there and hearken to that, that cracks me up,” Anthony said in a YouTube video uploaded Friday.
During Wednesday’s debate, Fox News host, Martha MacCallum said Anthony’s “lyrics speak of alienation, of deep frustration with the state of presidency and of this country. Washington DC is about 100 miles north of Richmond.”
“Governor [Ron] DeSantis, why is that this song striking such a nerve on this country without delay?” McCallum asked the Florida official, based on The Guardian.
DeSantis replied, “Our country is in decline. This decline isn’t inevitable. It’s a selection. We want to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse American decline.”
Nonetheless, Anthony claimed his song “has nothing to do with Joe Biden.”
“It’s so much larger than Joe Biden,” he claimed.
“The one thing that has bothered me is seeing people wrap politics up on this. I’m upset to see it. Like, it’s aggravating seeing people on conservative news attempt to discover with me like I’m certainly one of them.”
Uploaded two weeks ago, “Wealthy Men North of Richmond” has over 41 million views on YouTube. It’s also the primary song by an artist with no chart history to make No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song’s lyrics reference hungry “people on the street,” “obese” residents “milking welfare” and suicide rates of young men.
Right-learning figures, including Kari Lake, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Walsh have all adopted the politicized verses despite Anthony’s self-proclaimed centrist views.
“I hate to see that being weaponized. I see the proper attempting to characterize me as certainly one of their very own, and I see the left attempting to discredit me, I suppose, in retaliation,” he said within the nearly 11-minute video.
“That sh–‘s gotta stop,” Anthony stated.
The Post has contacted Anthony for comment.
Anthony, who just released a recent song Wednesday titled “I Want To Go Home,” told the Free Press on Thursday that he hopes his viral hit will encourage listeners to stop relying “on someone 150 or 500 miles away from them to resolve their problems.”
“No person in Washington, DC, nobody within the federal government’s coming to avoid wasting us,” he told the outlet.
“The people who are going to avoid wasting us are one another.”
