Country singer-songwriter Charley Crockett believes his music industry peers should be “taking notes” from Bad Bunny rather than continuing to support an “oppressor” like President Donald Trump.
Crockett tore into Trump Monday in a fiery Instagram post recalling his experience at the Grammy Awards earlier this month and praising Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show, which has drawn considerable backlash from conservatives.
“They keep saying I’m a cosplay cowboy but they love a cosplay president,” he wrote. “When I was at the Grammys the other night I saw a guy get up and talk about Jesus, and then I saw Bad Bunny get up there and talk like Jesus.”
“The country music establishment should be taking notes on a Puerto Rican American who hasn’t forgotten his heritage and brought his culture’s traditional music back to the front, showing the world something new with it,” Crockett added.
Charley Crockett, a two-time Grammy nominee, deemed President Donald Trump a “draft dodger” and “grifter who bankrupted 6 casinos” in a fiery Instagram post.
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Crockett, a two-time Grammy nominee, was alluding to fellow musician Jelly Roll, who got religious during his Grammy acceptance speech yet dodged questions about politics in interviews afterward.
Most of Crockett’s criticism, however, was reserved for Trump, whom he called a “draft dodger” and “grifter who bankrupted 6 casinos” who has succeeded only at “filing lawsuits and portraying a successful business man as a reality TV actor.”
As for tech billionaire Elon Musk, who recently reconciled with the president after a very public falling-out, he added: “Let’s deport his ass and send [PayPal and Palantir co-founder] Peter Thiel back with him since they both openly believe in a post democratic society where men of their class are above the law.”
Elsewhere in the post, Crockett said he has “a problem with a 34 time convicted felon running this country when I lost the right to vote or own a weapon for years over marijuana … As a great man once said it’s welfare for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor.”
“If you can sleep at night licking their boots that’s between you and yours, but that type of thinking isn’t freedom. It’s mental slavery,” he continued. “Every single right we have as a people wasn’t handed to us. We had to fight and take it. Judge a man by how he treats the poor and those who he views as being able to do nothing for him.”
Crockett’s 2025 album, “Dollar a Day,” received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Country Album.
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Crockett, a Texas native, has released a total of 15 studio albums over the course of his career. His most recent release was 2025’s “Dollar a Day,” which received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Country Album.
His comments come as Trump and other conservatives ― many of whom initially pledged to skip this year’s halftime show ― have taken aim at Bad Bunny, an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Crockett’s post had received glowing praise from many of his followers, including fellow musicians Sam Williams, the grandson of country legend Hank Williams, and Margo Price.
“Thank you. We all need to hear this,” Williams wrote in the comments, while Price added: “Love to hear it brother.”