The battle between Zach Bryan and his own fans wages on.
The country superstar was in Starkville, Mississippi this past weekend for a massive concert at Davis Wade Stadium on the campus of Mississippi State University. The show, which is part of Zach’s With Heaven On Top Tour, was the first ever full-stadium concert in the university’s history, so naturally fans were excited to have one of country music’s biggest stars in town for the event.
Ahead of the show, one fan outside the stadium attempted to get a picture as he saw Zach driving through the gates. But what he got instead was…Zach screaming a vulgar “I Think You Should Leave” quote at him as he drove away.
(If you’re not familiar, “I Think You Should Leave” is an insanely popular sketch comedy show on Netflix starring Tim Robinson. It’s not for everybody, but it’s pretty funny).
As the fan approaches his car to try to ask for a picture, Zach screams:
“You think any ghosts ever come out of the walls with a big c–shot?”
In the scene he’s referencing, Tim Robinson is touring a haunted house and can’t stop asking inappropriate questions. And many in the comments picked up on the quote immediately. But the kid trying to get the picture was clearly surprised by the response from Zach, audibly gasping in the video and saying that despite being a big fan, it’s “hard to support” Zach when he treats fans that way:
“Been a Zach Bryan fan for abt 4 years now and I’m like his number 1 fan. When my friends think of Zach Bryan they think of me. This happend this past weekend at Starkville Mississippi about 1pm. I gotten there really early to be at the gates and saw him as I was walking up. I don’t take it to heart for what he said, but still calling a fan a c*mshot after asking for a photo is kinda crazy.
Like I said it don’t bother me that much but if he had said it to anyone else they would be more depressed. I love the guys music a lot but it’s hard to support someone with this intention and personality towards others. I’m not trying to get him canceled or anything it’s just a showing of his true self. Love his music but don’t love the act. I hope everyone who sees this can get what I’m trying to say.”
@loganw_24 Been a Zach Bryan fan for abt 4 years now and I’m like his number 1 fan. When my friends think of Zach Bryan they think of me. This happend this past weekend at Starkville Mississippi about 1pm. I gotten there really early to be at the gates and saw him as I was walking up. I don’t take it to heart for what he said, but still calling a fan a c*mshot after asking for a photo is kinda crazy. Like I said it don’t bother me that much but if he had said it to anyone else they would be more depressed. I love the guys music a lot but it’s hard to support someone with this intention and personality towards others. I’m not trying to get him canceled or anything it’s just a showing of his true self. Love his music but don’t love the act. I hope everyone who sees this can get what I’m trying to say. Thank you. #jesuslovesyou #daveportnoy #zachbryan #barstool @Dave Portnoy @Barstool Sports #fyp
Now, many in the comments felt like the kid was overreacting and that it was just Zach trying to be funny. He doesn’t even appear to hear the request for a picture as he’s firing off his joke. But there are plenty who feel that Zach hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt given his past behavior towards fans.
Awhile back, Zach created controversy when he responded to a young fan who was complaining about him not signing autographs by telling her to “get off his d–k.”
(This comment drew a response from Gavin Adcock, who criticized Zach for the way he treats his fans, which set off the feud that led to the now-infamous fence jumping incident).
And just a couple weeks ago, Zach called some of his own fans “Karens” for complaining that they weren’t given any sort of a refund after he was forced to cut his set short due to weather:
(Now, in that case I agree with the sentiment that fans shouldn’t be given a refund after a show is cut short due to something out of everybody’s control. That’s the risk you take with an outdoor concert, and he made it through 20 of 26 songs).
Even Sixpence None the Richer, the band fronted by Stephen Wilson Jr.’s wife Leigh Nash, commented on the video from Starkville criticizing Zach:
“I’m sorry, you didn’t deserve that. I guess sometime it’s true – don’t meet your heroes”
It seems like this is something that probably wouldn’t be as big of a deal for any other artist, but at this point Zach has proven he has no problem calling out his own fans and may have lost the benefit of the doubt.
Update: Zach Bryan has responded to the fan’s video by calling him “soft & weird.”
