CARLTON FLETCHER: Singer’s stand puts fans’ lives at risk … who cares? I do, call me

“Why don’t you hate who I hate, kill who I kill to be free?”

— The Monkees

I blinked when I first saw the headline, and then I read the story. I still can’t believe what I read.

Country singer Travis Tritt, a Georgia native, announced recently that he planned to cancel shows at venues that require attendees to observe COVID-19 safety protocols, including planned shows in Kentucky, Mississippi, Indiana and Illinois.

Tritt, a veteran singer who is on the downside of his career but still performs frequently at smaller venues (he played at the Albany Civic Center years ago with fellow country star Hank Williams Jr. and two years ago played a solo show at the Albany Municipal Auditorium), said he decided to opt out of the shows because he is “against forcing people to take medicine that they may not need and may not want.”

The singer is on record as saying COVID-19 restrictions are “discriminating” to concertgoers.

“I totally disagree with any mandate that would force people to go against their better judgement or would attack their personal freedoms,” Tritt said. “That’s why I am making this stand. And I know, straight up, it’s definitely gonna cost me money and that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

Well, good on you, Mr. Tritt. Way to take a stand.

But while you’re so worried about all those concertgoers being discriminated against because, for God’s sake, they’re being told they have to — gasp! — wear a mask, you obviously don’t give a rat’s behind about the people at your shows who find themselves subjected to a disease that, while it has waned in recent weeks, is still killing people at an alarming rate.

The more callous among us might think that Tritt is trying to inspire the base of red-state residents who have decided that they don’t need no stinking vaccines or to wear masks, hoping that there will be a sudden groundswell of support from people who have turned what is most definitely a health care issue into a political one, not giving a tinker’s damn what health care officials the world over have deemed the world’s one best shot at finally ending the pandemic.

Or, just maybe Mr. Tritt’s ticket sales weren’t exactly setting the music business on fire in those four venues that have safety protocols in place, so he used the phony “I’m taking one for the team” song and dance.

There’s no question that, in certain circles — and we know the inspiration for those circles — Tritt will be hailed as a hero. He’ll become the darling of anti-vaxxers and supporters of politicians who’ve determined COVID is a hoax, global warming is not real and it is every American’s right to do just whatever the hell they please, who cares how it impacts others.

While he’s basking in his new role as a modern-day hero, one would hope Tritt knows, somewhere deep in that red-bleeding heart, that he is not doing his fans a favor. Because he’s imposed his illogical will on venues, demanding that they meet his call for no safety protocols, he’s actually putting fans’ lives in danger. A few infected persons in a crowded musical venue have the capacity to spread COVID-19 — which, by the way, Mr. Tritt and all your sheeplike minions who applaud your foolish action — is still very real and very dangerous and very deadly.

So, yeah, Travis Tritt, you probably will lose money over this asinine stand you’ve taken. That’s not conjecture; that’s fact. As someone who enjoys live music and takes every opportunity to attend concerts, I’ll take my own stand. You’ll never get another penny of my money … not for concerts, and not for music you release that I could play in the relative safety of my own home. And, since I have the capacity, I’ll also never do anything to promote your career.

I know, I know. Who cares what one guy in one podunk town says when you’ve got most of red-state America confirming your status as “true American.” Of course, when a few of those fellow true Americans die after being exposed to COVID at one of your shows, flip ‘em a quarter and tell ‘em to call someone who cares.