Luke Combs' Confederate Flag Apology Sparks Discourse Among Country Fans

Luke Combs' apology for his previous use of the Confederate Flag has ignited a polarizing conversation among Country music fans and musicians. While some have praised the artist for speaking about a long-standing issue of racism within the genre, there are some fans who are skeptical of Combs' sudden moment of reckoning. The artist's apology even mustered a response from country music artist Ryan Upchurch, who referred to him as an "f––ing sissy."

Combs first apologized for using the flag in a joint interview with Maren Morris as part of this year's annual Contry Radio Seminar. "When I released the song, there were some images that resurfaced of me," he told NPR's Ann Powers. "and it's not the first time that those images have surfaced and have been used against me. And obviously, those are images that I can't take back. …. Obviously, in the age of the internet, those things live forever. And there is no excuse for those images. … It's not okay. As a younger man, that was an image that I associated to mean something else. And as I've grown in my time as an artist, and as the world has changed drastically in the last five to seven years, I am now aware how painful that image can be to someone else." He added, "At the time that those images existed, I wasn't aware what that was portraying to the world and to African-American artists in Nashville that were saying, 'Man, I really want to come in and get a deal and do this thing, but how can I be around with these images being promoted?' And I apologize for being associated with that."