Lee Greenwood, the well-known country singer and Grammy-winning patriot behind the hit song, “God Bless the U.S.A.,” said he is “shocked” that Joe Biden’s administration has kicked him off the National Council on the Arts.
Biden apparently is “cleaning house”—and has “fired a patriot,” Greenwood told “Fox & Friends” in a recent interview.
Greenwood also revealed that he was told by email that his term on the council had expired, but that he could remain until his replacement is confirmed.
Greenwood, 78, first released his America-loving classic tune, “God Bless the U.S.A.,” back in 1984, on his album, “You’ve Got a Good Love Comin’.”
To this day, Greenwood performs that beautiful song and many of his other hits all over the country. Former President Donald J. Trump so enjoyed and appreciated the song that he selected it as a key tune to play during his rallies throughout the presidential campaign, during his term as 45th president—and even now, as he and others look ahead to the 2022 midterms. (Greenwood also performed the song live for Trump as well as for other presidents.)
Greenwood has always maintained that his popular song has never been and is not partisan. As he told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday about his term on the National Council on the Arts, “It’s a six-year appointment, and I was appointed by George W. Bush 43. So I served under his term. Also, President Obama’s term. Of course, President Trump’s term,” Greenwood added. “And then, as you know, he used my song, ‘God Bless the U.S.A.,’ which is unilateral for me. It’s meant for all people, not just for a particular political party.”
Greenwood also said, “So hearing now under the Biden administration … he’s cleaned house and he’s finally fired a patriot. I was quite shocked, to tell you the truth.” Also, Greenwood added, “I didn’t get a phone call or letter. It was just an email.”
A new Greenwood documentary recently began airing on Fox Nation. It’s called “Proud to Be an American: The Lee Greenwood Story,” and it features family, friends, and fellow artists sharing their input on the singer and his iconic career.
Greenwood, who grew up on a farm in California and was raised by his grandparents, is based in Nashville. He’s been married to his wife Kimberly Payne since 1992 and has three children; for years he has performed all over the country.
About his signature song, “God Bless the U.S.A.,” Greenwood told LifeZette a few years ago in an interview, “I perform 150 days [a year] across this country all the time. I don’t care if it’s New York or Los Angeles, [the] points I mention in my song are just everywhere … It’s not just the rural areas. It’s the [people in] cities as well who are very prideful and love a chance to excel. I mean, that’s the thing we offer the most, isn’t it? When people strive to come into our country and are not striving to get out, it’s because we have the offer of freedom.”
On October 12, Greenwood will be honored at a tribute in Huntsville, Alabama. A dinner will be held in conjunction with the tribute. Greenwood’s firing from the arts panel angered Perry O. Hooper Jr., chair of that dinner, the Atlanta Business Journal reported.
“I went from shock to anger,” Hooper said in a statement on Thursday. “I guess there is no room for a true American Patriot in Joe Biden’s world. From woke generals running the military to the National Endowment of the Arts, he wants to tear down the America we love.”
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Hooper went on, “This is disgusting. Lee’s masterpiece ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’ has become a patriotic hymn behind only the national anthem and ‘God Bless America’ in importance to the soul of our great country.”
Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A” was played at the Republican National Convention in 1984 with then-President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan in attendance, as TexasBreaking.com noted. Over time, the song “[became] a rallying cry during various times of crisis in America,” the outlet also noted. “It was the rallying cry for after the launch of Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War in 1991, for the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, and most recently, for honoring the 13 brave [service members who gave their lives in] the explosion during the evacuation in the Kabul airport earlier this year.”
For more information about Biden’s booting of Greenwood from the arts panel, see these tweets:
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—By CNJ Staff