Texas Toast: Ten Year Anniversary of Dixie Chicks' "Entertainment Weekly" Cover and Interview About Anti-Bush Remark (May 2, 2003)

What was the deal?  During a concert in London on March 10, 2003, with the U.S. a week from invading Iraq, Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines told an audience, “We’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas,” referring to fellow Lone Star denizen, President George W. Bush, a strong proponent of war with Iraq.  With that, the popular country trio was plunged into controversy and castigation.  Outraged fans, media commentators, and politicians accused Maines—along with bandmates Martie Maguire and Emily Robison—of being unpatriotic and even traitorous to their country.  That Maines made the remark on the brink of war and on foreign only intensified the negative reaction.  The retribution was swift:  radio stations stopped playing the Chicks' music, album sales plummeted, and calls for the band's demise came from multiple quarters.  On March 14, Maines apologized, acknowledging that the President should always be given the "utmost respect."  After two months of silence on the flap, Maines, Maguire, and Robison sat down for an interview with Entertainment Weekly to address the situation.

What did they say?  The interview, which appeared in the May 2, 2003, issue of the entertainment magazine, can be found here.

How did they do?  Maines uses differentiation strategy early in the exchange when she makes a distinction between President Bush and U.S. troops fighting in Iraq, emphasizing that her disapproval was directed at the former, not the latter.  Maguire corroborates this claim by revealing that Robison immediately added "But you know we support the troops 100 percent."  No one has disputed this account, so it would seem to be a pretty effective move to add this pivotal information in a high-profile media interview.  Maines repeated her apology for disrespecting the office of the president (mortification strategy) and smartly draws on her positive role as a mother (Bolstering strategy) to express her concerns and fears about Iraqi children potentially harmed by the U.S. invasion, or worse.  Finally, employing transcendence strategy, Robison stated:  "I think everyone is afraid [about tensions in the world] and they need to vent it somehow.  Not that they aren't truly mad [at us] about something.  But what brings something to this level, especially when we as a group or Natalie have never said anything in this realm before?"  Robison clearly acknowledges that this strategy may be pushing it, however, if one finds the public and media reaction disproportionate, she reminds the audience that this may not be about the Dixie Chicks after all.

Final Call?  Sinkhole.  Over time, the Dixie Chicks were able crawl out of the hole and reestablish their critical and commercial success, but certainly this interview didn't help much.  So if the trio effectively applied well-established apologia strategies, as I seem to conclude above, why did this media event fail?  Two reasons:  First, the cover.  Although Maguire defends the provocative pose during the Q&A, it just came across as gratuitous, desperate, and, frankly, a little confusing.  Why create this polarizing distraction that hits the reader in the face and reminds them of the trumped-up charges before turning the interview itself?  Second, the era.  As with Arnold Schwarzenegger's "girlie men" comment, this controversy arose at a very weird time in our political and cultural history.  With patriotism wielded like a blunt weapon, rational dissent and worldly sophistication were routinely eviscerated.  To that extent, Robison may not have been persuasive, but she was correct:  The Dixie Chicks were swept away in the whirlwind of post-9/11 scapegoating.