Toby Keith Sees the Gray Areas When It Comes to Abortion, Gun Control and Other Hot-Button Issues
You might think you know Toby Keith's politics, but the country star says don't be too quick to assume. In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, the artist says he says a lot of gray areas when it comes to hot-button topics such as gun control and abortion.
"It's such a big, gray world," Keith says, "and with those issues like that — I know how I feel inside, but I don't know how to fix none of them. I'm not that guy."
Although Keith doesn't specifically explain his stance on gun control, he shares that, when it comes to abortion, his heart and his mind are conflicted.
"One of the biggest struggles that I have on abortion is abortion. In my heart, I don't like it," Keith says. "But in my mind, I agree with a lot of the situations where it should be [allowed]."
Known for politically charged songs such as "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" and "Made in America," Keith has performed at multiple presidential inaugurations, including Donald Trump's; however, he says that he's not too keen on laying out his political views for his fans, because he sees it as "a losing battle."
"You're never gonna reach enough people in any interview to avoid being misrepresented," Keith says. He notes that he believes his fans understand him, "[b]ut just as extreme as it can be on one side, you also have fans that love you for the wrong reasons. And as many people that have painted me in a corner, there's people standing in that corner ready for me to paint in there."
Case in point: Keith says he's had fans and interviewers who ask him about a topic expecting that they already know his answer ... but don't.
"Whatever topic they come up with, they know how they want me to answer it. Whether they're for it or against it or whether they believe like I do, they say, 'I'm gonna ask this question because I think I know how he'll answer it,'" Keith shares. "And then when you don't, they're like, 'What the hell?'"
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