Brad Paisley is encouraging fans get the COVID-19 vaccine. In a recent interview with MSNBC, the country star shared why he's passionate about getting the word out and discussed vaccine hesitancy.
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"I feel like knowing my people, where I come from — I'm from West Virginia, a small town of 1200 people — this is the kind of community where immediately, if a house is on fire, before the fire department can get there, there are a lot of people with buckets. They're trying to put the fire out already," Paisley said in an interview with MSNBC. "They band together, they do what it takes to help their neighbor. I think all my fans have been fed — they are seeing disinformation everywhere, and they're being told that the water doesn't put the fire out. So it's a really strange thing to try and be louder than that disinformation. I think that, when they realize that it is the patriotic thing, when they realize that this is for the greater good, they will do it."
Paisley partially put the blame on the shoulders of the "Hollywood elite" for spreading misinformation about vaccinations.
"It is an interesting thing when you look at what happens and how this became what it is. I think back to the original anti-vaccine movement, which sort of started, I think, I could be wrong, but I see it as almost starting with the Hollywood elite that didn't want their kids vaccinated because of a bunked report," Paisley said. "I think that there is a level of reaching these folks that you have to say look, the way to be the most productive citizen, the way to be the person that helps, is to get this. The patriotic thing is when you raise your arm and say 'America,' get a shot in it. That is the way that you are the most patriotic.'"
Earlier this year, Paisley starred in a Nashville-themed public service announcement about getting vaccinated titled "Be a fan. Take the shot."
The ad shows the home of the Nashville Predators and the CMA Awards, Bridgestone Arena, as well minor league ballpark First Horizon Park and Vanderbilt's Memorial Gymnasium to remind us of the sports venues around the country that've sat empty or allowed limited capacity crowds during the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
"There's a soundtrack for places like this," Paisley says. "And it isn't made in a studio. It's made by you."
Paisley adds that it's the fans that need to "take the shot" to see their favorite teams again live.
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One version of the PSA that aired in Nashville during the ACM Awards also shows Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, Vanderbilt's men's basketball coach Jerry Stackhouse and Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Storey Lee.
Other country music artists appearing in new PSAs include Dolly Parton and the trio of Eric Church, Ashley McBryde and Darius Rucker.
Speaking of sports venues, Church also used a Billboard cover story to encourage concert goers to speed up the return of arena and stadium tours
"If you believe you shouldn't, I don't have a problem with it. I'm a liberty guy, too. I get it," Church said of the percentage of Americans against getting vaccinated. "But I view this a little differently than most other things. We've never encountered this.
"I just want to play shows. Politics' job is to divide -- that's how you win elections,' Church continued. "Those things that unite us are music and sports. The times when, whether you're a Democrat or Republican or whatever, you throw your arm around the person next to you."
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