The Chicks: Some of the First Celebrities Subjected to Cancel Culture

Natalie Maines, the lead singer of The Chicks, stepped onstage in Toronto hours after Roe v. Wade was overturned, and she cracked a joke: “Back in the dressing room I was watching a clip of Phoebe Bridgers at Glastonbury and she said, ‘Fuck the Supreme Court.’” Maines feigned shock that Bridgers would say such a thing. “I was like, 'You can’t say that! Especially on foreign soil, what is she thinking? She’s gonna get canceled!'” She and her bandmates laughed, and the audience roared along with them.

Everyone in the crowd was well aware of the context. In 2003, The Chicks (known as The Dixie Chicks at this time) were performing in the UK at the outset of the Iraq war when Maines told the audience they were ashamed to be from the same state as then-President George W. Bush. The statement that would forever alter the band’s trajectory.

Their largely conservative fanbase was furious, and as a result, The Chicks were, for all intents and purposes, thrown out of the Nashville music scene. They were blacklisted from country radio. People held album-burning rallies. Country singer Toby Keith performed in front of an altered photo that showed Maines hugging Saddam Hussein; they also received death threats. They went on hiatus and became one of the first artists to get canceled, to go away for a while, as a result of the intense, nationwide backlash. The court of public opinion forced them into exile, and they weren’t allowed to return until nearly two decades later.

In 2020, they emerged from their interim with a score to settle and a new name – The Chicks (changed after 2020 Black Lives Matter protests revealed that “Dixie” has ties to the South during the civil war) – as well as Gaslighter, their first album released in 15 years. Why were they able to make such a triumphant return to relevancy? Nashville changed to fit the times.

The Chicks’ treatment by such a large percentage of their fans in 2003 set an alarming precedent for silencing female musicians in country. A 2004 Gallup survey found nearly 60 percent of country fans identified more strongly with Republicans, compared with 11 percent who identify as liberal. No artist wanted to be put out to pasture, so the number one rule became, "Don’t go against the base."

When Taylor Swift was an up-and-comer, operating more within the country realm, she headed the warning label executives and publishers gave her to avoid politics. She revealed in her Netflix documentary Miss Americana released in 2020 that they repeatedly said, “You don’t end up like the Dixie Chicks." Swift said that for years, she was “terrified” to speak out. At best, she didn’t think anyone cared what she had to say. At worst, she assumed she’d be attacked for it.

For a long time, it was damning for a female musician who actually stuck to her country roots to go against the stereotypical confines of the genre. Lest they become just another cautionary tale. So, when shock waves over Roe v. Wade started reverberating out of the country music realm, its impact was greater.

Maren Morris vowed to “fight." Brandi Carlile shared her belief that the people she has met touring America, do not support overturning Roe v Wade. Allison Russell and Margo Price also shared a message of outrage.

They aren’t the only ones. Across the board, women in the country genre took a stand on this issue. No one was canceled, and no one was put on hiatus. Comparing the backlash against the Chicks for comments about Bush to the outrage over Roe v. Wade's end might be an apples-to-oranges sort of deal, but think about how everything would’ve played out if Roe were overturned 15 or 20 years ago. I don’t think any country singer– man or woman – would have had the nerve to speak out.

This time around, artists were actually being called out for staying silent. Apple Music radio host Nada tweeted, “The silence from the men in country music — besides a small, select few — about what happened today is heard loud and clear. #RoevWade."

Country music is (gradually) heading in a more progressive direction, trying to include a more diverse range of voices. Thanks to a positively-trending cultural zeitgeist as well as the musicians and fans who want it to keep changing, women in country have more autonomy now than they’ve ever had; they possess all of the power to make this genre better.

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