Neil Young On NRA Spokesperson Dana Loesch’s Hatred Of His Music: “Why Doesn’t She Just Shoot Me?”
Did you know that NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch, who recently tried to argue that the students who participated in the recent anti-gun-violence student walkouts were not actually rallying for gun control, is a vocal Neil Young detractor? She’s regularly tweeted anti-Neil (and sometimes, by proxy, anti-Canadian) sentiments comparing Young’s voice to “a dying cow fart” or, even less cogently, a “dying cow attempt at harmony.” When informed of this by The Daily Beast’s Marlow Stern at SXSW, where Neil is promoting his insane-looking new musical film Paradox, the legendary singer-songwriter had a hearty chuckle.
“The spokesperson? That woman? She doesn’t like me?” Young laughed, before declaring that he was “glad [he] got under her skin.” He, of course, wasn’t surprised, though he pointed out that the President was more supportive, despite his resentment of progressives: “…she’s one of the gang over there. Although Trump likes my music. He’d come to all my shows.” (On the campaign trail last year, Trump recalled going to a Neil Young concert as recently as 2015, and several subsequent and cordial conversations they had prior to his announcement of candidacy, including one about Neil’s lossless audio projects.)
In response to Loesch’s questionable metaphor of the “dying cow,” Young said: “Why doesn’t she just shoot me?”
Young then qualified the statement: “You know, I hate to say that because I have kids and I really don’t want anybody to shoot me. I’ve still got to bring up my kids, so don’t take that seriously!”
My first exposure to Neil Young was in high school when he released Mirror Ball, with the dumbest track ever, "Downtown."
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) January 17, 2015
Had I won the Powerball I was going to pay Nickelback, Bush, and Neil Young to stop playing.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) January 14, 2016
This article originally appeared on Spin.