Aaron Lewis, a country rock singer and former lead vocalist for Staind, spoke about his failed cancelation in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Lewis responded to controversy over his solo album, The Hill. Lewis has faced controversy in the past for his support of former President Trump, his criticism of President Biden and his endorsement of the U.S. Constitution and a "core set" of American values.
But when asked about his concerns about cancelation, a danger that Lewis said he has faced in recent years, the singer said that he was not particularly worried.
"Any of the things that anybody would have found offensive are already out there," he said. "The songs that are on the record that some might find offensive are already out."
"They've taken their licks already," he said. "It's funny. They take their licks and I play sold out shows. So take your licks. Take your licks if it makes you feel better. It really doesn't affect me."
"When I put out, 'Am I the Only One,' there was a public, outward calling for my cancelation and for me to lose my record deal and my record label president said ‘absolutely not,’ and he stood up for my ability to speak my feelings as an artist and to have the freedom of speech to do so," Lewis told Fox News Digital. "What is art is somebody else is telling you how to make it?"
Lewis also said that he opposed the loss of American patriotism, the destruction of Civil War-era statues and even liberal singer Bruce Springsteen in his popular song, "Am I the Only One."
Lewis said that Americans don't need to agree on every issue, but it is important for them to believe in a "core set of values" that includes the Constitution.
"Those are the values that it seems there is a purposeful mechanism out there trying to destroy those values, trying to destroy the fabric" of America, he said.
"The Constitution is what gives this country to us, the people," Lewis continued. "This country is not the government's, and we've allowed it to get that way just out of laziness and disconnection."
When asked about the role that the mainstream press plays in helping advance American values, Lewis was adamant that the media was largely a detriment.
"It's our responsibility. We are the caretakers of this country and it is our responsibility to hand this country over to the next generation in a better state and in a better condition than we received it and we are failing miserably."
Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Lewis said that he liked only a handful of political figures, naming former President Trump, lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, as a few examples.
As a message to Americans, Lewis said that he wanted to end division and return to constitutional and bedrock American values.
"As an American, I feel a driven responsibility to protect and to better and to save this country that I was so lucky to be born in," he said.
