From The Center Square:
Lawmaker questions cost of canceling Confederate Railroad performance at DuQuoin State Fair
It’s unclear how much taxpayers will have to pay, if anything, to breach a contract with a country act that has been removed from the entertainment lineup for the DuQuion State Fair, but a downstate Illinois legislator said he’s baffled by what he sees as the hypocrisy of one state fair act being canceled while another is still expected to take center stage.
The DuQuoin State Fair, which runs Aug. 23 through Sept. 2, had initially listed the country music group Confederate Railroad among those slated to perform at the event. That performance was later canceled.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture said in a statement it had “removed Confederate Railroad from our 2019 DuQuoin State Fair grandstand lineup. While every artist has a right to expression, we believe this decision is in the best interest of serving all the people of our state.”
State Rep. Darren Bailey, R-Louisville, said that makes no sense. He said he doesn’t listen to country music, but did look into Confederate Railroad after the group was removed from the lineup.
“It’s just a bunch of southern redneck music, I guess, is how I would term it,” Bailey said. “But yet let’s look at the other side of the coin with Snoop Dogg who is to me is as anti-American, I don’t care who the president is, as anti-American as you can get. And we don’t stand for this stuff and we should not tolerate this.”
Some on social media called for a boycott of the fair over the cancelation of Confederate Railroad.
Bailey shared on social media a graphic depicting a Confederate Railroad album cover that contained the Confederate flag next to a Snoop Dogg album cover that shows the feet of a cadaver with a toe tag labeled “Trump.”
Snoop Dogg is set to perform Aug. 16 at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield.
The controversy made national notoriety with country artist Charlie Daniels posted on Twitter: “This political correctness thing is totally out of control.” He said the move is “giving in to fascism,” and he’s “sick of it.”
Bailey said there are some questions the Department of Agriculture is going to have to answer.
“There was probably a contract signed, so what did the state of Illinois give up, what is the cost of canceling Confederate Railroad?” Bailey asked.
Messages seeking comment from Illinois Department of Agriculture about the contract were not immediately returned. A Freedom of Information Act request for the contract is pending.
Bailey said it makes no sense to feature Snoop Dogg, who’s made controversial overtones threatening President Donald Trump, at the fair in Springfield next month while canceling a country music act.
“This is the Illinois Department of Ag that is behind [this],” Bailey said. “These are the people that are supposed to be common sense, down-to-earth people. How does this happen?”
If Confederate Railroad were to perform, Bailey said he expects it would be a sellout show, boosting the fair’s bottom line.
Confederate Railroad put out a statement Tuesday in reaction to the controversy.
“As many of you know, we were scheduled to perform at the Illinois State Fairin Du Quoin, Illinois on August 27, along with our friends Restless Heart and Shenandoah,” the statement said. “We have since been removed from that show by the Illinois Department of Agriculture because of the name of our band. This was very disappointing as we have played this fair before and enjoyed it very much.”
“The outpouring of support from Confederate Railroad fans, fans of other acts, and the public in general, has been both overwhelming and very much appreciated,” Danny Shirley said in the statement. “I would also like to thank the actors, athletes and fellow country music artists who have spoken out in support. It has been brought to my attention that several people have asked both Restless Heart and Shenandoah to cancel their shows in protest of our cancellation. I have spoken to both acts and encouraged them to perform as scheduled. Live concerts are how we pay our bills and feed our families. I would never want to see another act lose a payday because of this. Please go out to hear these two great bands. As I have said many times onstage, I am by no means a saint but, I am a man of faith and I have faith that God will see us through this as well as whatever comes next! Thank you for your support.”
Hopefully, this brings an end to the bloody reign of terror inflicted by Country Music on Illinois.
Where is the outrage? Why should anything with the pro-slavery confederate name be offensive to anyone? Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…
Reverse racism?
Censorship?
Yup. Another step to Civil War II. The backlash will obliterate the Reds.
Snoop also vented about federal employees “being treated fucking unfairly” during the shutdown.
He added that “punk motherfucker” Trump, who has said the shutdown may continue for months or years if Democrats do not cave to his demands for federal funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, didn’t care.
“Look what he do. He just don’t give a fuck. Y’all honest, blue-collar hard-working people and suffering,” said Snoop.
In November, Snoop conducted a mini-protest against Trump when he smoked a blunt in front of the White House
excerpted from: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/snoop-dogg-donald-trump-shutdown_n_5c3458cce4b0116c11ef6607
Considering who caused the Confederate Railroad Band to be pulled, does anyone else think that there MIGHT be a 1st Amendment issue?
It’s called Southern Rock, DJ!
So does this mean JB is going to start censoring music acts all over the state??
What kind of kool-aid has he been drinking since he took office??
oh wait I think I know.
Isn’t this what the democrats under Jack’s direction tried to do in McHenry County to Ted Nugent?
Yep!
Now we need to boycott Nancy Pelosi.
Let me tell you, that women Nancy Pelosi is not hitting any home runs.
I’m sure Snoop will say the n word a hundred times during his show.
Did Snoop lead a rebel army that killed hundreds of thousands American troops?
Imagine the outrage of someone flew an Al Queda flag!
But the confederacy killed far more Americans.
Didn’t Barak Hussein Obama and his wife, while in the whitehouse, invite and/or condone some RAP group(s) that had a history of very nasty lyrics? Lyrics that demeaned women?
Interesting how the fact that the Southern States were controlled by Democratic Party politicians during the time of slavery is overlooked by Democratic posters.
The Union Army slaughtered native women and children by the hundreds.
In fact officers were promoted for leading such horrific acts.
Interesting observation.
America would have been better off if it were two countries following the civil war.
Slavery would have ended anyway in the 1880s, just like Brazil and other places.
And at least part of the country would have been neutral during WWI and WWII.
Communism would have been scrapped and all those Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainians, Russians, etc., would have been free.
In short, a much better world.
“The Union Army slaughtered native women and children by the hunreds. In fact officers were promoted for leading such horrific acts”. Compassionate conservatives, let us whisper of a dream: “If only the pro-slavery confederate army had prevailed…this country would be soooooooooooooo much better off…” tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…
Angel, your childish comments illustrate that you understand very little.
Why do you reduce everything to such a sophomoric view of history?
“America would have been better off if it were two countries following the civil war”. Compassionate conservatives are very creative not only rewriting history but writing the history that never was; like a country that went to war defending slavery was going to abolish it just like that, “like Brazil and other places”. We know these republikkklans too well. Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…
There probably wouldn’t have been WWII if the US hadn’t gone into WWI to appease a bunch of international bankers.
The moron govenor of Illinois has NO RIGHT to say who I can listen to.
BOYCOTT THE FAIR!!!
This state is going DOWNHILL FAST!!!
These Democrats want to shut up and dumb down this great country by continuing to allow the border to be flooded with hundreds of thousandds of illegals so they can DEPEND ON GOVERNMENT and vote DEMOCRATIC.
WAKE-UP people!!!
They want to take away and tear apart all of American history, art, statues….all things that has made this country what it is today!!!
Hell yes, there could be a second Civil War if people don’t wake up and state up for freedom & liberty!!!