Springsteen Offers Support To Dixie Chicks
Bruce Springsteen has issued a statement supporting the country trio the Dixie Chicks, who have suffered backlash, including radio playlist bans, after singer Natalie Maines’ comments to a British concert audience in March protesting President George Bush’s actions towards Iraq.
Posted at brucespringsteen.net, Springsteen’s statement reads: “The Dixie Chicks have taken a big hit lately for exercising their basic right to express themselves, To me, they’re terrific American artists expressing American values by using their American right to free speech. For them to be banished wholesale from radio stations, and even entire radio networks, for speaking out is un-American. The pressure coming from the government and big business to enforce conformity of thought concerning the war and politics goes against everything that this country is about – namely freedom. Right now, we are supposedly fighting to create free speech in Iraq, at the same time that some are trying to intimidate and punish people for using that same freedom here at home. I don’t know what happens next, but I do want to add my voice to those who think that the Dixie Chicks are getting a raw deal, and an un-American one to boot. I send them my support.”
Springsteen has made anti-war statements of his own during his concerts this year–sometimes playing the late Motown singer Edwin Starr’s protest hit “War”–and in other concert comments has also bemoaned the loss of civil liberties.
Springsteen and his E Street Band have just finished a short swing through Canada. They kick off a European tour on May 6 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, before starting a North American tour July 15 with the first of 10 shows at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
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