Devin Dawson Hilariously Takes Down Westboro Baptist Church After Bizarre Attack
Devin Dawson didn't get too upset when Westboro Baptist Church attacked him and Brett Eldredge in a recent Twitter post. Instead, the "Asking for a Friend" singer casually knocked down their criticism without losing his customary cool one bit.
The so-called "church" — which is categorized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — turned to Twitter on Thursday (Aug. 30) to decry Dawson's appearance at the upcoming Y'allapalooza Festival, at which Eldredge is also set to appear.
"All fornication is filthy! A lesson the #Nashville country music industry desperately must learn," the group posted. "WBC will preach Christ at #Yallapalooza2018 ... and insist @bretteldredge & @zdevin cease from teaching this sin."
In a bizarre press release attached to the tweet, the group writes, "Both these gents have never been married and both claim to be hopeless romantic ergo they are just fine with fornication," adding a Bible verse they appear to see as a direct warning to the entertainers.
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"Put that away guys, and teach your audience to do the same," the rant continues, urging the singers to "focus for a moment on the talents God has given you," and not on attaining wealth "in this life" through their talents.
"You do not want to be addressed by Jesus Christ, the God of all this earth, like this, on the Day of Judgment," the diatribe continues, adding another Bible verse that WBC evidently felt supported their position before concluding with, "God hates talents hoarders!"
Dawson responded to the unusual posting on Friday via Twitter, writing, "Come fornicate with @bretteldredge & me at #Yallapalooza2018. @WBCSaysRepent will be there too!!!" He added a pair of hugging face emojis to add to the humor of his post.
The comments on Dawson's reply included several apologies on behalf of Christians, with one user writing, "The whole Christian community is ashamed because of this. This 'church' only instigate fear, whereas Gospel was never about that. In fact it means good news." Nashville songwriter Matraca Berg responded by simply posting several laughing and hand-clapping emojis. One commenter suggested Westboro's post "has to be a joke," and several others congratulated Dawson on having "made it" now that he is prominent enough to attract Westboro's attention.
Westboro Baptist Church has made headline repeatedly by protesting at the funerals of U.S. military members who've been killed in action, and they even threatened to protest at George Jones' funeral. They've also accused Carrie Underwood of being partly to blame for the Sandy Hook school shootings, claiming her stated support for same-sex marriage brought God's wrath down on the innocent children who were killed.
They've also picketed a Blake Shelton concert and trolled him online, causing the singer to tweet, "I see y'all are back at it!! Did y'all ever expand your gene pool or are you still nailing your immediate family members?"
Charlie Daniels spoke out forcefully against the hate group in 2011, calling them "despicable people." Brad Paisley openly mocked the group in a hilarious selfie that he took as they were picketing one of his concerts, but Vince Gill's reaction to a WBC protest at a concert of his own in 2013 takes the cake. The group was protesting Gill's "adultery," claiming that his marriage to Amy Grant was adulterous because each had been married and divorced previously.
Gill confronted them on the sidewalk in an exchange that was caught in camera, saying, "I just came to see what hate looked like."
"Don't you know that you f---ers are lucky that you don't have a sign that says something about my wife?" he fired at the protesters before knocking down their claims that they were only representing the words of Jesus.
"He said a lot of stuff about forgiveness, about grace," Gill shot back. "You guys don't have any of it."
Devin Dawson is one of Taste of Country's RISERS for 2018, and he's seen remarkable success this year. He scored a No. 2 hit with his debut single, "All on Me," and he recently announced his first headlining tour. The Stray off Course Tour will begin Nov. 1 and run through Sept. 15. He has also been opening for Eldredge on a number of shows this year. They will both perform at Y'allapalooza on Sept. 15 at the Providence Medical Center Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, Kan.
Eldredge has not commented publicly on Westboro Baptist Church's press release or tweet.
Watch Devon Dawson' Exclusive RISERS Performance of "Asking for a Friend"