Speaking during an interview on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” with liberal country singer-songwriter Kelly Clarkson, former country singer Maren Morris defended her decision to take her young son to meet drag queens at an LGBTQ+ benefit concert in 2023. Her decision to do so came shortly after Tennessee banned drag shows close to schools.
Speaking about the law and her decision to take her son to the show, Morris, who said at the time of the incident that Tennessee should “f—ing arrest” her, defended her decision and maintained that the drag show to which she took her son was “family friendly” and “fun,” not inappropriately sexual for a mere toddler.
She told Clarkson, recounting the incident, “We were doing a benefit at Bridgestone last year when they were doing the drag ban in Tennessee.” She continued, “There were drag queens like throughout, entertaining as well, and one actually danced with me when I was singing my song, ‘The Middle.’ And it was just amazing and fun.”
Morris continued, saying that her toddler was “fascinated” with the “colors” of makeup, and so the event was “completely harmless.” In her words, “My son loves watching me, like sit in the makeup chair and just is like fascinated with the colors … it was just like completely harmless.”
Morris continued, explaining that the drag show was an “amazing expression of artistry,” and “an amazing thing” that should be normalized, saying, “But I think it’s just such an amazing expression of artistry, and so I just think like normalizing it and making it seem like these are just people that love dressing up, too, is an amazing thing.”
She added that the event was “family friendly” and meant for all ages, so it was not, in her view, an inappropriate event for her toddler to attend. She said, “It was an all-ages show so, it was completely family-friendly.”
Watch Morris here:
Morris famously told the crowd at the drag queen event, “I brought my son here earlier today for soundcheck, and he’s turning three this week, and we got to go in the room where all the queens were getting ready and doing their makeup. And he freaked out when he went in there, because it’s just magic what drag queens do.”
That’s when she got to daring authorities to arrest her for bringing her toddler-age son to the event, saying, “There’s wigs everywhere, and the smell of hairspray and wig glue; there’s glitter; everyone’s in a good mood. It’s just like a room of love. . . . And yes, I introduced my son to some drag queens today, so Tennessee, f—ing arrest me.”
Morris also announced that she would be leaving country music over her political views in the fall of 2023. After explaining that she would be leaving country music, she attacked Jason Aldean’s “Try that in a Small Town” and similar songs, saying, ““People are streaming these songs out of spite. It’s not out of true joy or love of the music. It’s to own the libs. And that’s so not what music is intended for. Music is supposed to be the voice of the oppressed — the actual oppressed. And now it’s being used as this really toxic weapon in culture wars.”
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