Apparently, loving the United States of America is just too controversial for one television station in the home of country music — and it’s making one band in particular very famous.
According to a social media video that’s gotten plenty of traction, the Dugger Brothers Band — a Greeneville, Tennessee-based duo — was apparently forbidden from performing the song “True Colors” on WSMV-TV in Nashville because the song was too “politically biased.”
However, thanks to an outpouring of support, the song has reached No. 1 on the U.S. iTunes downloads charts — making it a boon for both the brothers and freedom-loving Americans everywhere.
Earlier this week, the brothers who make up the core of the band — Jordan and Seth Dugger — posted a video about the fact that they were allegedly banned from performing the patriotic song on “Today in Nashville” on Wednesday.
“So sorry that I didn’t raise this flag before, but we’re just now really looking into the lyrics of the song. The song does cross a political line that we as a station cannot cross,” a representative from WSMV said in an email to the band.
“We as a show and a station do not allow any politically biased songs on either side of the line. We’re going to have to ask the band to perform a different song on Wednesday,” the email continued.
“We could still mention that they recently released it, but we will still need to explore a different song to perform. Please let us know if you have any questions or how we can help make this change,” the station representative reportedly told the brothers.
The Duggers then went on to say they wrote the song “because we’re proud to be Americans and we’re tired of people putting the USA down.”
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Jordan Dugger then recited some of the lyrics to the song that the woke station decided to nix:
“I ain’t leaving here / I’m an 8th-generation, God-fearing blue collar, with the flag waving / and I don’t wait until the Fourth of July / it’s year round, life long American pride / Right here, right now, I’m drawing the line / if this country ain’t something you can’t stand behind / Then that’s the difference between me and you / because my true colors are red, white, and blue.”
Is loving the USA really that controversial?? https://t.co/74b1boO2qy @WSMV #duggerband #USA pic.twitter.com/sO2b3zW6n9
— Dugger Band Official (@Dugger_Band) March 11, 2025
“Is loving the USA really that controversial?” the brothers asked.
Country superstar John Rich, who produced the record, also went onto social media to call out the television station:
You won’t BELIEVE this! @WSMV in Nashville has censored my friends @Dugger_Band and their new Pro-America song “True Colors.” I produced this record and love these guys, so this is personal to me. Watch the vid for the full story & pls repost! 🇺🇸BLOW THIS STORY… pic.twitter.com/WBqIu5GUJG
— John Rich🇺🇸 (@johnrich) March 11, 2025
“Can you even believe this is still going on?” Rich asked in the clip. “This is still happening — you write a pro-America song, and they’re trying to cancel you. They’re trying to censor you and shut you down.
“How do we respond to that, country music fans?” he continued. “I know one way: download their song.”
And download they did, with the song hitting no. 2 on the U.S. iTunes Country chart and no. 8 on the U.S. iTunes Top Song chart as of Wednesday, the brothers said in an Instagram post.
And, according to Kworb.org, the song had moved up to No. 1 on iTunes Top Songs in the U.S. as of early Thursday morning.
Now, could you call the song a bit on-the-nose, politically? Yeah, sure. It’s worth noting that Dugger didn’t read from the first part of the lyrics, which is a bit more overt in its biases (“I see you looking down while I′m looking up / You’re just sitting there sipping on that Starbucks cup / Hating on everything not doing anything / I crank up some Toby Keith / Climb back in my truck”) than the chorus.
But trust me: More overtly political stuff, far more poorly written, will appear on local TV morning shows from coast to coast this fine, fair day. If you don’t know this, you’re clearly not familiar with the local morning show game.
And they did the right thing by listening to Rich’s advice: “Under no circumstances do you kiss the ring of some liberal commie-acting news organization like WSMV telling you that your freedom of speech doesn’t mean anything to them, that they’re gonna dictate what you get to sing.” That’s what America is all about.
That’s why we’re No. 1, baby — and why the Dugger Band is as of Thursday morning, as well.
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