While basketball legend Michael Jordan has largely distanced himself from it, one of the most enduring quotes he ever uttered was something along the lines of “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”
While Jordan claims these days it was a quip said in jest, the implications of it reverberate today.
How many have interpreted it is that Jordan, whose sneaker empire helped make him a billionaire, didn’t want to get involved in polarizing politics because he understood that his massive fandom would invariably include both liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.
And whether or not Jordan wants to stand by those remarks, there is a certain level of truth to it.
Just ask “My Church” singer Maren Morris.
Last week, Morris took to TikTok to post a lengthy video where she covered quite a bit, as reported by Fox News.
She touched on why she left the country music industry, despite the way “My Church” helped her burst onto that scene in 2016.
“No one is very friendly,” Morris said. “Some people are cool, but like, it’s been very dicey at these award shows and s**t. And I don’t really go to them anymore, but it’s very heated.”
“And I try to be kind, I try to be benevolent, but there are people and energies in the sphere of my work the last few years that have really put me off,” Morris continued.
She added, “So I’ve stepped away in certain facets, but I still love country music, obviously, like there’s no choice. I grew up in it, so it’s there. It’s in your bones. It’s in your DNA, but I definitely think I’m lucky that I get to have a fan base and be honest.”
Perhaps most noteworthy, she admitted that she’s “lost a lot of fans” due to her outspoken disdain for President Donald Trump and the conservative movement — though, in fairness to her, she didn’t seem to harbor any particular ill will toward lost fans.
“I’ve lost a lot of fans over the years because of my viewpoints and I think that’s fair,” Morris said. “If you don’t agree with me, and you can’t enjoy my music because of my viewpoints, you are absolutely allowed to do that.”
Morris wasn’t nearly as amicable when describing Trump supporters in an LA Times interview from 2023.
“After the Trump years, people’s biases were on full display,” Morris said. “It just revealed who people really were and that they were proud to be misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic. All these things were being celebrated, and it was weirdly dovetailing with this hyper-masculine branch of country music.”
“I call it butt rock.”
In a 2024 interview with USA Today, Morris pursued the opposite of the “Republicans buy sneakers, too” approach by throwing her full-throated support behind failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“I’ll definitely support Kamala any way I can,” Morris said when asked if she planned to get involved in that year’s election. “I campaigned for Biden and have met Kamala and she’s a bada**. I feel invigorated to vote. Living in Tennessee, it feels more impactful to have that say.”
Morris, who came out as a self-described bisexual in 2024, has also decried the way country music is sold as “indoctrination,” according to Newsweek.
“It’s not out of true joy or love of the music. It’s to own the libs,” she said.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
