Luke Combs Fires Back At Fellow Panthers Fan Who Called Him Out For Wearing Another Team’s Hat…. While Performing At Their Stadium

Casey Young·
COUNTRY MUSICNEWS
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Luke Combs country music
Luke Combs

Luke Combs isn’t having it. For the most part, the country star stays offline and out of any sort of drama, but when you bring his Carolina Panthers into it, well… that’s where he draws the line. Of course, Luke is a huge Panthers fan, and he grew up supporting his hometown team and he often posts about the season, certain players, and things of that nature, and he’s appeared many times on sports shows to talk about his team.

He keeps up, and always has interesting takes, and has never wavered in terms of his support, but that’s not enough for some Panthers fans… let me explain.

Luke posted a series of photos with his wife, Nicole, on X last night in promotion of his new song “Be By You,” and in one of the pictures of them, he’s wearing a Jacksonville Jaguars hat, presumably from his headlining stadium show there in 2024:

It probably isn’t a surprising sight for fans who attended any of his stadium shows that year, or at any point, because he wore the hat of whatever team’s stadium he was playing at throughout the tour. It’s completely common for anyone playing a large sports stadium to hype up the fans by coming out in the jersey or hat of the local fanbase. Morgan Wallen does it, Dierks Bentley does it, Kenny Chesney does it, Zach Bryan… the list goes on and on.

And because this is the internet we’re talking about, where morons congregate in mass and freely vocalize their moronic takes, you won’t be surprised to learn that some fans were none too pleased to see that, with one calling him “a fake” over it. There were several other similar comments in the replies, too:

“Jags hat but you’re a Panthers ‘fan.’ Always knew you were a fake.”

And  if you think Luke was going to let that slide… he didn’t. He clapped back, sarcastically pointing out that he “should have worn a Panthers hat” when playing at the Jaguars stadium:

“Oh yeah I should have worn a Panthers hat when I played a show at the Jaguars stadium. My bad.”

I mean, it’s easy for me to sit here and say I would never do that, and in my head, I wouldn’t… I’m a diehard Panthers fan too and I can’t even imagine the thought of wearing another NFL’s teams logo, but I’m also not getting paid millions of dollars to play music and entertain fans at their stadium, either, so I guess it’s really easy for me to say that.

There was a lot of debate in the comments about what he should have done, as you can imagine…

I have been a fan of Luke for years, since I started college at Appalachian State, where Luke also attended and got his start in music, so I would never criticize him because he has done so much for North Carolina and I’m so proud of him… but I don’t know, I tend to side with the fans who are in favor of never wearing another team’s logo. But at the same time, it’s just not that deep… it’s a hat. And a hat of a team in a different division, a different conference.

Personally, I just can’t imagine EVER repping another team, especially another team in the NFC South, that’s actually blasphemy. It’s sort of the same issue I ultimately have with Megan Moroney’s “Tennessee Orange,” like, there is no man on this planet I would wear my team’s rival jersey for. It’s a cute song, but Megan… c’mon, girl. At the same time, Luke’s obligation is to the fans in the stadium who are paying money to see him perform, and if wearing a Jaguars are going to give the fans in Jacksonville a better show, I’m not sure it’s something than any of us fans can relate to.

Regardless. I think we should focus more on the love, and it’s a good thing Luke’s just in time with just dropping this heater from his forthcoming album, The Way I Am:

“Be By You”

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