February 19, 2024
‘Dukes Of Hazzard’ Actor John Schneider Under Fire For ‘Racist’ Remarks About Beyoncé Singing Country Music: ‘Every Dog Must Mark Every Tree, Right?’
Black artists have been in country music for a long time — it didn't start with Beyoncé.
John Schneider, better known as Bo Duke from the “Dukes of Hazzard” television series, said that Houston-born Beyoncé’s entering country music was like a “dog peeing on a tree.” As Newsweek reported, Schneider used the interview to bemoan “lefties” during an interview on the conservative One America News network.
Schneider said, “They’ve got to make their mark, like a dog at a dog walk park, you know every dog has to mark every tree, so that’s what’s going on here.”
Black artists have been in country music for a long time; it didn’t start with Beyoncé. In 1974, The Pointer Sisters went back to their Arkansas roots and performed “Fairytale” at the Grand Ole Opry after receiving an invitation. They would also go on to win that year’s Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, which is the first and only time that Black women have won any award for country music.
As NPR reported, Anita Pointer described the group’s experience at the Opry in her autobiography Fairytale: The Pointer Sisters’ Family Story. “When we arrived at the Grand Ole Opry, there were protesters carrying signs that said, ‘Keep country, country!’ It was a jarring sight for us. We had fought during the tumultuous civil rights era, which was still fresh in our minds. To see people protesting us because of our race was unsettling,” she wrote. “As we took the stage a man screamed, ‘Hot damn. Them girls is Black!’ Fortunately, we won the music lovers over with our live performance…After we performed the song, the same man screamed again, ‘Sing it again, honey!’ And we did. We sang it three more times that night.”
As for Schneider, many on social media believe his comments were code for “keep country white.” That statement is not only ignorant of country music’s past, which extends well before The Pointer Sisters, but also of the genre’s present and its future, which includes stars like Mickey Guyton, Kane Brown, and Breland.
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’ 2019 film Country Music explored the roots of county music. In it, historian Bill C. Malone said, “African-American style was embedded in country music from the very beginning of its commercial history. You can’t conceive of this music existing without this African American infusion. But then, as the music developed professionally, too often, African Americans were forgotten.”
Who can forget the late Charley Pride, a much respected and recognized country singer who paved the way for many Black country artists.
It comes as little surprise that when Beyoncé released two country songs, some country radio stations initially refused to play them during broadcasts because they don’t consider her a country artist. Black country artists have long dealt with country music radio’s reticence to play their music, with a 2021 study revealing that only 2.3% of country music played on country music airwaves over the last 20 years was by Black people or other people of color. This is despite the chart-topping success of artists like Pride, Brown, and Guyton.
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