Country music singer Blake Shelton's
anti-gay tweet has riled gay media watchdog GLAAD.
Shelton, a judge on NBC's reality
talent show The Voice, tweeted to his more than 300,000
followers new lyrics to the Shania Twain song Any Man of Mine.
Twain's lyrics include the line, “Any
man of mine better walk the line – Better show me a teasin'
squeezing' pleasin' kinda time.”
“Re-writting my fav Shania Twain
song,” Shelton messaged. “Any man that tries Touching my behind
He's gonna be a beaten, bleedin', heaving kinda of guy...”
In a blog post at its website, the
group said Shelton had “displayed some astoundingly bad judgment”
in demanding an apology.
“One has to wonder how Shania feels
about seeing her anthem about strong women and female empowerment
turned into a violent threat,” the group wrote.
Shelton did offer a back-handed apology
on Twitter: “Hey y'all allow me to seriously apologize for the
misunderstanding with the whole re-write on the Shania song last
night. It honestly wasn't even meant that way... I now know that
their [sic] are people out there waiting to jump at everything I say
on here or anywhere. But when it comes to gay/lesbian rights or just
feelings.... I love everybody. So go look for a real villain and
leave me out of it!!!”
Last month, openly
gay country music star Chely Wright called Shelton's poke at actor
Jake Gyllenhaal inappropriate.
Shelton suggested to an Academy of
Country Music Awards crowd that Gyllenhaal must be gay for breaking
up with singer Taylor Swift.
Shelton and singer Reba McEntire shared
hosting duties at the awards show broadcast on CBS.
The pair poked fun at the
thirty-year-old actor for “dumping” the country music starlet who
turned twenty-one in December.
During the Las Vegas show's opening
monologue, McEntire, a 13 year veteran of the show, advised Shelton
not to make jokes about Swift: “If you make her mad, she'll write a
song about you.”
“She writes songs about guys who
break up with her – which I don't understand in the first place,”
McEntire added. “She is beautiful, she's talented, she's sweet.”
“What in the world was Jake
Gyllenhaal thinking anyway?” she asked.
Shelton shrugged then added, “Wait a
minute. He was in Brokeback
Mountain,” referring to the
2005 Oscar-winning, Ang Lee-directed romantic drama starring
Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as cowboys in love.