Country star Brian Kelley calls out Big Tech for censorship on pro-American song: 'This is nothing new'
Country musician Brian Kelley in July released a single on streaming platforms titled "Make America Great Again" after his performance at the 2024 Republican National Convention, which came less than a week after the assassination attempt on GOP presidential nominee former President Trump.
Since the launch of the song, Kelley says he has been keeping a watchful eye on Big Tech censorship and trusts that the lack of viewership doesn’t add up.
"I thought it was kind of strange," Kelley told Fox News Digital of the missing "share" button on Apple Music streaming services.
The Florida native said he tagged Apple Music on his social media posts, and within a day or two, the issue was reconciled.
"Maybe it was a bug. Maybe it was something else, but it shouldn't be that hard to just utilize the same tools that I've been utilizing with other songs," Kelley said.
When Amazon Alexa was asked to "play Brian Kelley" by his band members' wives, Kelley said the cloud-based voice service instead played Brian McKnight.
"I love Brian McKnight," Kelley said. "He’s great, but it’s just those things that are really, really interesting where it makes you think, it makes you wonder."
Regarding Instagram, Kelley said the positive comments supporting the song are hidden.
"I've never really had that problem," Kelley said.
The "See You Next Summer" singer said he received a number of comments from fans relaying their inability to share "Make America Great Again" on their platforms.
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Instagram did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital when asked for comment.
"At the end of the day, this is nothing new," Kelley said. "This is somewhat expected at this point when it comes to Big Tech censorship."
Kelley called out Google regarding the missing results from the search engine giant’s auto-complete feature surrounding the assassination attempt on Trump in late July. Google denied manually tampering with the results to FOX Business at the time.
"We just have to be louder, and we just can't back down," Kelley said. "We have to continue to get our message out there. We have to continue to fight. We have to not be afraid to speak our minds and stand for what we believe in and stand on our truth."
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With regard to Spotify, Kelley said his song did not appear on playlists dedicated to new releases of the week.
"They’re not going to advertise it," Kelley said of Spotify. "They're not going to put it out front."
However, Kelley granted that Spotify has been "good" to him and promoted new music, including "Acres," "Kiss My Boots" and "Dirt Road Date Night," which were all playlisted.
A source close to Spotify told Fox News Digital that the song "isn’t censored" and, in order to be, it would have broken rules and been removed entirely from the platform.
"Even though it's not on a playlist and a playlist that the artist would have liked, that doesn’t mean that it's censored," the source said. "Anybody can find the song at any point."
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Spotify declined to comment when Fox News Digital reached out.
While Kelley feels quieted, he expressed his gratitude to Trump for posting the music to both Truth Social and Instagram.
"Right before he posted on Truth Social, he sent through my production manager a text message," Kelley said. "It was a really, really sweet message. It was amazing. It felt great. It felt unreal."
Kelley added that he’s heard through Trump’s circle of friends and staff members that the GOP presidential nominee has been "blasting it" on repeat.
The country music veteran bid a thank-you to other musicians like Jason Aldean, Kid Rock and John Rich for forging an evolutionary path for other artists to be unapologetic of music that is "a little bit political."
"To see Jason, who's really outspoken, loves this country, loves our military," Kelley said, "it's those guys who have helped open the door for some of us to walk in a little easier."