Country singer quits Kentucky festival after organisers ‘express concerns he would promote homosexuality’

Adam Mac was due to headline the Logan County Tobacco and Heritage Festival in Kentucky on 14 October

Country singer Adam Mac has dropped out of a Kentucky festival after organisers expressed concerns about him “promoting homosexuality”, he claims.

The Logan County Tobacco and Heritage Festival announced earlier this week that Mac, 33, would headline its Grand Finale Concert on 14 October.

However, on 21 September, the festival wrote on its official Facebook page that the concert had been cancelled entirely “due to circumstances beyond our control”.

In a four-minute video shared on TikTok, Mac, who is gay, explained the alleged circumstances behind his decision.

“This is not the video that I thought I would be making today but here we are,” Mac began.

“I got a call yesterday from someone who works on the [festival] board... She explained to me that there were some board members and some people in town who had questions about what kind of performance I would be putting on,” the singer, who said he was raised in Logan County for 21 years, continued.

“[They] wanted to ensure that I would not be promoting homosexuality or sexuality in a family-friendly environment – I don’t really know what they expected I was gonna do other than just come and put on a hell of a show like we do,” he said.

Mac said he was made aware that some townspeople were “very upset” that a gay person would be headlining the festival.

The singer added that these critics had threatened to “protest at the show, which is just so disheartening”.

Despite not wanting to let down “the people who need to see me most there in that space” nor “cave and let those [critics] win”, Mac said he had decided to cancel the show and let organisers book someone less “controversial”.

The Independent has contacted The Logan County Chamber of Commerce for comment.

Last week, Maren Morris announced her plans to leave the country music scene over its part in the cultural divide in the US.

“The Middle” singer, 33, is a rare advocate for LGBT+ rights in the genre, which has recently seen a spike in politicisation with Jason Aldean’s pro-gun anthem “Try That in a Small Town” going viral, and newcomer Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” being adopted by conservatives.

“People are streaming these songs out of spite. It’s not out of true joy or love of the music. It’s to own the libs,” Morris told the Los Angeles Times. “And that’s so not what music is intended for. Music is supposed to be the voice of the oppressed – the actual oppressed. And now it’s being used as this really toxic weapon in culture wars.”