Country singer (and season 10 America's Got Talent finalist) Benton Blount was four shows into a seven-show run opening for ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons when he was reportedly kicked off the tour. His removal followed his posting of a photo of himself wearing a MAGA hat and an "I Voted" sticker and holding a Chick-Fil-A sandwich on Facebook with the caption "Someone reading this just got offended multiple times. My work here is done! #Vote," which also apparently led to him being banned from Facebook for 24 hours. Blount told The Greenville News that he was notified by Gibbons' management upon arriving to the venue on Thursday that he was removed from the tour, and that the reason for his temporary Facebook ban was that his post "did not meet community standards."

Upon returning to Facebook, he posted a video explaining the situation, and also wrote: "I was banned from Facebook (for 24 hours) and now I’ve just been banned from my opening spot on the Billy Gibbons tour. But suppression of Conservative opinion doesn’t happen and it doesn’t affect your career!" You can view the video below.

Today, he posted a longer statement, which reads:



I have let it ride for a few days because I wanted to see how bad it would actually get. If you want to see how the party of acceptance and tolerance really treats people, look at any of the National headlines that have been posted about me this week, at the love videos that I posted, and even some of my families pictures.

Some vile nasty creatures have crawled out of humanities sewer and decided to do everything from celebrate my removal because of my political affiliation, all the way to wish me and my family ill will and even injury.

It reinforces why I have always felt that it’s important for everyone to be able to give and have differing opinions.

For the longest time, I had a few liberal friends that would argue that this type of language doesn’t come from their party. I’m glad at least now people can see it for themselves.

A spokesperson for Billy Gibbons said "Benton Blount was disinvited to continue the tour because of a creative decision." Gibbons himself has not commented.