EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL…EXCEPT MAYBE THE POLITICAL CESSPOOL; GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING ARTIST RAY STEVENS EXPLAINS HOW HE ENDED UP ON RACIST RADIO PROGRAM

Looks like the Political Cesspool’s James Edwards got another celebrity to appear on his show, but in this case we were able to reach out to country singer and Tea Party supporter Ray Stevens (pictured), and he let us know he was not about the racist bull that Edwards subscribes to.

One People’s Project

Ray Stevens, a Grammy Award-winning country singer who is known for novelty songs such as “The Streak” and “Everybody Needs a Rainbow”, contacted One People’s Project to say that he had no idea what kind of show the white supremacist radio program “The Political Cesspool” was when he agreed to appear on the program earlier this month.

“I am requested to do numerous radio interviews with stations all around the country and overseas every week and I have no idea what those programs are like,” Stevens wrote in an email. “I am a politically Conservative American voter. I talk about my recordings and my videos all of which are available for public review and scrutiny. I had never heard of ‘The Political Cesspool’, thought the name of the show was tacky but agreed to do it because it was pitched by my publicist as another Conservative Radio Show.”

Stevens, who is a huge supporter of the Tea Party campaigns and has written politically-charged songs as of late, such as “We Are the Government” and “Obama Nation” appeared on the Aug. 4 installment of The Political Cesspool, a program hosted by James Edwards, who serves on the board of two white supremacist organizations, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) and political party American Third Position (A3P). Edwards aired ads for both organizations in the same hour that the Stevens interview was also aired. The interview was prerecorded however, and Stevens never said anything that would suggest he would subscribe to the racist leanings of the program or even talked of his positions on racial matters.

Co-host Bill Rolen, who is also a CCC board member, came on later to praise the interview and expressed how important it was for the radio program. “Of course, it’s always good for us to have celebrities like Ray Stevens on because it proves that we’re not really on the fringe, that many people, even celebrities, are on the same wavelength with us here on the Political Cesspool” he said. “Maybe not 100 percent, but we’re gaining in percentage points as far as those who agree with us, and of course the audience continues to grow.”

James Edwards has been able to ingratiate himself to the mainstream that fails to notice his white supremacist leanings in the past. Paula Zahn famously referred to him merely as a “radio talk show host” from Memphis, Tennessee when he appeared on her CNN program in 2007 (http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2007/fall/memphis-sewage). It was the second time she has hosted him on the station.

Despite the interview being heralded on other racist-leaning blogs, Stevens makes it clear that he does not subscribe to that ideal. “If anyone thinks that I am a racist or supportive of any sort of racist views they simply need to read the lyrics to my Grammy-Winning self-penned song ‘Everything is Beautiful,'” he wrote, referring to his 1970 song that includes the lyrics “We shouldn’t care about the length of his hair or the color of his skin/ Don’t worry about what shows from without but the love that lives within.”