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Up-and-coming folk/country singer Oliver Anthony became the talk of the town after his powerful song, Rich Men North of Richmond went viral on the internet, making him an overnight sensation. However, with this fame has come rumors, the latest of which suggests that the singer apparently refused $100,000 to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl.
However, the claim is completely false and Oliver Anthony was never reportedly been approached by Super Bowl officials to sing the national anthem.
The claim originated from an August 24 article published by the satirical website Dunning-Kruger Times, who themselves refer to their articles as "fiction" and "not real."
Oliver Anthony is not performing at next year's Super Bowl
The claim that Oliver Anthony rejected $100 million to sing for free at the Super Bowl originated from an article published by The Dunning-Kruger Times on August 24. The article was titled:
"Oliver Anthony Turns Down $100K to Sing the National Anthem: “I Sing That Song For Free” "
The article claimed that the singer, who reportedly turned down an $8 million record deal, has now offered to sing the national anthem for free at next year's Super Bowl. The article even provided a statement, seemingly made by Oliver Anthony himself:
"It’s a dealbreaker. I can’t in good conscience charge anyone to play our nation’s greatest song. I’ll only play it for free."
No part of the article, which was written by Flagg Eagleton is real.
The Dunning-Kruger Times is a satirical website that describes their work as "fiction." The website, which is a part of the America's Last Line of Defence network of social media accounts and websites states:
"Dunning-Kruger-Times.com is a subsidiary of the “America’s Last Line of Defense” network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes called it before they lost their war on satire: Junk News."
Regarding its content, the website says:
"Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site’s pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical."
"I do hate to see that song being weaponized": Oliver Anthony
Oliver Anthony's unprecedented rise to fame took the world by storm. His hit song, Rich Men North of Richmond, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which meant that he was the first artist to debut on top of the chart without a previous song ever making it.
Despite the success, Anthony's song, which talked about working class struggles did have a few critics, who labeled it as a "Republic Anthem" and him a "conservative hero." Some even called his lyrics racist. The song was also surprisingly played during this week’s Republican presidential debate.
Oliver Anthony, whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford, addressed the backlash in a video posted on Friday, August 25, titled It's a pleasure to meet you - part 2. In the video, the singer said that he was "bothered" by people wrapping politics into his song:
"It’s aggravating seeing people on conservative news try to identify with me like I’m one of them."
He added:
"I do hate to see that song being weaponized. I see the right, trying to characterize me as one of their own. And I see the left trying to discredit me, I guess in retaliation."
He talked about how it was "funny" seeing his song in the presidential debate as the song was written about "those people" and them having to forcefully sit and listen to that cracked him up. He also mentioned that the song was not about Joe Biden, adding said that it was "bigger than Joe Biden."
Anthony spoke about how his song brought together, "such a diverse group of people", which according to him, terrified the people he wrote the song about, who allegedly made him look like a fool and spun his words to place him in a political bracket.
