‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ singer Oliver Anthony slams Biden

Blue-collar singer Oliver Anthony insisted he’s no Joe Biden fan Saturday — after scorching Republicans for using his hit song for political purposes.

“Corporate news (big surprise) is now trying to twist me into being a Biden supporter,” the “Rich Men North of Richmond” singer said in an early-morning Facebook post that Anthony promised would be his final word on politics.

“Biden’s most certainly a problem,” he declared — but said his song’s lyrics “aren’t exclusively knocking Biden.”

On Friday, the man behind the No. 1 populist anthem posted a 10-minute YouTube video that dismissed Republicans for claiming his song for their own at Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate, saying that the tune “has nothing to do with Joe Biden.”

In his Saturday post, he expanded on the comment while jabbing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has used the song as an applause line on the campaign trail

“DeSantis … talks about needing to get Joe Biden out, as if that would automatically solve all the problems,” Anthony wrote. “Biden is a big part of the issue, bit it runs much deeper.”


Oliver Anthony
Singer-songwriter Oliver Anthony objected to Republicans’ use of his viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” on the campaign trail — but says President Biden is “a problem” too.
Photo by Mike Caudill for Billbaord/Billboard via Getty Images

Facebook post from Oliver Anthony
Anthony explained that the lyrics of his song “have nothing to do with Biden” but are instead “knocking the system collectively.”
Facebook/Oliver Anthony Music

Instead, he said, his surprise hit “is about corporate owned DC politicians on both sides.”

“It’s knocking the system collectively,” Anthony wrote. “Including the corporate owned conservative polticans [sic] that were on stage [Wednesday] night.”

Since it was uploaded two weeks ago, “Rich Men North of Richmond” has notched more than 42 million YouTube views, becoming the first song by an artist with no chart history to make No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.


Oliver Anthony has criticized Republicans — but says he's no fan of President Joe Biden.
Oliver Anthony has criticized Republicans — but says he’s no fan of President Biden.
Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Oliver Anthony
Anthony’ stated that simply removing Biden — who is “certainly a problem” — won’t fix things.
TNS

DeSantis meanwhile continued to name-check the song in speeches Saturday.

“We are careening towards bankruptcy as a nation because of what these rich men north of Richmond have been doing with our tax dollars,” the governor told voters in Algona, Iowa.

“Oh, you like the song?” he chuckled in mock surprise, as the audience whooped in approval.