Mike Huckabee Was Forced to Resign From This Country Music Charity Over His Homophobia

Though it hadn’t even been a day since he got the job, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee just resigned from the Country Music Association Foundation. The Foundation is the charity arm of the CMA, and it was hoped that with Huckabee’s political background he could help the foundation. But it was not to be, as the CMA Mike Huckabee alliance is over following a firestorm of complaints.

The reaction to the news was swift. Jason Owen, the openly gay co-president of Monument Records, was particularly incensed. In a scathing letter to the CMA, Owen called the CMA Mike Huckabee appointment a “grossly offensive decision.” He wrote:

I have a child and two on the way. This man has made it clear that my family is not welcome in his America. And the CMA has opened their arms to him, making him feel welcome and relevant. Huckabee speaks of the sort of things that would suggest my family is morally beneath his and uses language that has a profoundly negative impact upon young people all across this country. Not to mention how harmful and damaging his deep involvement with the NRA is. What a shameful choice. I will not participate in any organization that elevates people like this to positions that amplify their sick voices.

Huckabee is known to be notoriously homophobic and has compared homosexuality to incest. Last year he made a tasteless joke that both mocked Sen. Chuck Schumer’s sensitivity to refugees and the film Boys Don’t Cry, a biopic of murdered trans man Brandon Teena.

It’s not just his homophobia that makes him an awful choice, though. After the Parkland shooting, he called companies cutting ties with the NRA “cowardly.”

In the CMA Foundation’s statement, the group explained why it thought Huckabee would be a good fit, citing his advocacy on music education and the fact that he’s also a musician. (We can only imagine how shit his music is.)

“That said, we have been in contact with him and have accepted his resignation from the Foundation Board,” the statement reads. “As he noted, he did not want to be a distraction or hindrance to the CMA since the mission is about supporting music education.”

 

What do you think about the CMA Mike Huckabee split? Let us know in the comments!

Featured image by Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call