We've been hard on Toby Keith over the years.
In July of 2007, we got a little bored and came up with a now dated list of the Top 100 Oklahoma Embarrassments. This was back when TLO really was "an obscure local social blog." Hell, it was before the acronym TLO even meant anything. The month we started the list we were hit with 1,200 unique visitors and about 13,000 page views. To put that in perspective, this month alone — January 2013 — we've had 178,000 unique visitors and nearly 630,000 page views. And yes, that's a humble brag. Advertising "solutions" are here.
Anyway, our list was more a parody of Berry Tramel's annoying centennial sports rankings (Top 100 Oklahoma Football Players, Top 100 Oklahoma Sports Events, Top 100 Reasons the Hornets are better than the Sonics) than a legitimate, well-thought out feature. When we were about half-way finished, I remember Tony emailing me and Clark Matthews that the list was getting traffic and we may want to plan out a top 10. So that's what we did. We each came up with our individual list of the Top 10 Oklahoma Embarrassments (that had not been used already), tabulated the results, and bam, look who was the #1 Oklahoma Embarrassment:
1: Toby Keith
Here was the collected reaction of our OU-Miami (remember, I said the list was dated) watch party when we discovered that Toby Keith was the fine Oklahoman chosen to provide an overview of the OU starting lineup:
…...
Followed by someone saying:
“Is this the best we can do?”
You know what? That’s a good question. Is Toby Keith the best we can do?
I think not.
Toby Keith is Oklahoma’s negative cliché. Sure, “we” love our country music in Oklahoma. We also drive a large percentage of HD pick ups. But let's be honest. Toby Keith represents those Oklahoman’s who drive 75 miles to go the State Fair and toss a baseball at a beer bottle. He represents those Oklahoman’s who think that a night out is shopping for clothes at Wal-Mart.
It’s an image that us “civilized” Oklahoman’s loathe. It’s an image that we’d like to eradicate. But as long as there is Toby Keith there to be our State’s caricature, it’s an image we’ll always share.
So screw you Toby Keith. Go stick a boot in your ass.
Well, it looks like Toby Keith is changing. Apparently he supports gay marriage. Check out this, uhm, article from the Huffington Post:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Toby Keith says gay marriage doesn't bother him and trying to stop it wastes time and money.
The country superstar tells "CMT Insider" airing Saturday on CMT that he doesn't see the reason behind getting into people's personal lives. He says refusing a marriage license to people because they are gay won't stop them from living together, so it accomplishes nothing.
Keith also weighed in on the military's now-repealed "don't ask, don't tell" policy that banned gays serving openly in uniform. He says that anyone with the training and passion should have the right to defend the country, adding: "Somebody's sexual preference is, like, who cares?"
The "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" singer has taken part in nine USO tours to entertain U.S. troops overseas.
Okay, so there's a slight chance this "news" story may be have been published in September of 2011. There's also a chance that some Mole sent the story to us, I read it, and failed to notice the date until I wrote that damn good intro about the Top 100 Oklahoma Embarrassments — a feature that if we re-wrote today, I'd belong on. But screw it, I'm still hitting the publish button. If you don't like it, please cancel your subscription to this free Internet weblog.
Anyway, Toby Keith came out in support of gay marriage and the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." Even though his views were expressed over a year ago, I guess that's good to know, and based on the way he dresses, I don't blame him. Of course, I still can't stand the guy, his shitty songs about alcohol, or his good-ole'-boy-pissing-on-a-Ford persona, but at least he's tolerant and progressive on some social issues. Good for him, I guess.
