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Country singer says venue canceled her shows because she sang National Anthem at a Trump event

June 15, 2023 | | Print Article

Country singer Carly Tefft is claiming that the Harvest Gallery on Cape Cod canceled her performances there because she sang the national anthem at a Trump event in April, asserting that her presence is “threatening” even though she has performed there multiple times.

Tefft revealed the cancellations on the Howie Carr Show Wednesday following a call from the owner of the gallery. The restaurant features art and music in Dennis, Mass. That call came just five days after her Star-Spangled Banner performance at the Trump event. Despite having performed at the gallery repeatedly, Tefft said the owner claimed he had to cancel her future appearances due to “controversy.”

“He thought that his customer base would feel — he used a very specific word — threatened,” Tefft recounted.

She also charged that the owner compared having her perform at his establishment to hanging obscene artwork on the wall.

(Video Credit: Austin Kellerman)

“‘I can’t have nude artistry hanging in my space,’ he said, and he was comparing that to what I did,” Tefft noted on the Howie Carr Show.

According to Tefft, the owner specifically asked her if she was a Trump supporter.

“I just sighed. I knew that no matter what I said, he had already made up his mind. That’s his business, and that’s his prerogative,” she remarked.

The singer told him, “Truth be told, the only person I wholeheartedly support is God. This was an opportunity to bring people together with the national anthem by a former president.”

“I love that you have a great head on your shoulders,” replied the owner. “But I think it’s best for my customer base if we go ahead and cancel your performances for the rest of the year.”

According to Tefft, this was a “first” for her. She had never been banned before because of who she sang for. The owner lamely told her that despite his canceling her, she was still welcome to eat or drink at his establishment.

“He didn’t want to have anything to do with me after I sang the national anthem somewhere that had nothing to do with his bar, but he said I was still welcome to have a seat at the bar or have something to eat,” Tefft recounted.

The country singer first commented on her April 27 performance at the rally in New Hampshire on her Instagram account.

“When 45 calls you to sing the anthem, just letting God use my voice as a vessel. @realdonaldtrump, thank you mr. president,” she said in her post.

She admitted that her performance would probably be polarizing, but asserted that it would serve as an “opportunity.”

“Still, this was an opportunity to bring people together with the national anthem by a former president,” she said during the Howie Carr Show. “For me, that’s full of positives.”

“I thought, this is just me. I’m cool with it. But what it actually represents, I’m not cool with. My kids one day, just because they go to one church or like one person or support one team, if they can’t work somewhere, that’s not okay,” Tefft commented.

Tefft tweeted out a video of her song “Freedom in This Country” on Wednesday which features lyrics such as “It all starts with a wild heart/Standing up and taking charge” and “Bring back those days/When We weren’t stuck in our ways/Time to be the change that we all want to see/And that’s freedom in this country.”

“Feel like I should re-release this tune…what do y’all think?” she tweeted after her cancelation story went viral.

Tefft has sung the national anthem dozens of times in front of audiences. No listener has ever reported feeling “threatened” by the singer when she sang The Star-Spangled Banner at the Boston Marathon, Fenway Park, or TD Garden, according to the Howie Carr Show.

There is a great deal of support for Tefft on Twitter:

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