Country singer Neal McCoy of Texas debuted his latest song to a live audience last week that was also streamed via Facebook Live. The song, titled "Take A Knee, My Ass (I Won't Take A Knee)," is a pretty obvious commentary on the ongoing debate over kneeling during the national anthem.
The performance has racked over 3 million views. Even though McCoy performed the song, he said a friend of his actually wrote it. He warned listeners that the song has "a bad word in it." (The bad word is "ass," as in the title and hook of the song, "Take a knee, my ass.")
McCoy told BuzzFeed News that the song was written to address his dislike for NFL players' "timing" of their protest.
"That is their right to protest and I observe that right," he said. "I just disagree with the timing of it during Our National Anthem, which has been observed as that since March 3, 1913."
" I understand the guys taking the knee is a showing of unity and standing for what they believe is racial injustice towards the African Americans being exhibited mainly by law enforcement," he continued.
"I think what has struck a nerve with so many folks, or at least me, is the timing of it and I am letting folks know others can do what they want, but as for me, I won't take a knee!"
People in the comments absolutely love the song and its commentary.
But some are confused by the grammatical implication of the comma in the title — and wondering if McCoy is asking his ass to take a knee.
OK, so maybe they're not truly confused. But they are trolling.
"Telling your ass to take a knee is just sitting down."
"Working on a rebuttal song 'Take An Ass, My Knee.'"
Or, perhaps, McCoy really was addressing his own derriere, which makes everything all the more interesting. Hmmm, let me sit on this one.
What's clear is McCoy's messaging has gotten a bit lost and offtrack.
UPDATE
The post has been updated to include McCoy's statements.