Country star and The Voice judge Blake Shelton has appeared to take a swing at emerging star Lil Nas X, with his latest song, artist Trace Adkins, making a shady one-line reference to 'Old Town Road'.
In the song, called 'Hell Right', 43-year-old Shelton sings: “Then the girl from the small town took off the ‘Old Town’, put on a little Hank Jr.”
Adkins then adds: “Thank God.”
Speaking to Variety, a spokesperson for Shleton insisted the lyrics were not intended as a personal swipe.
“It’s absolutely not throwing any kind of shade at Lil Nas X at all," the spokesperson said.
“Blake says this literally has nothing to do with anything at all except how much the song is played.
“It could have been 'Achy Breaky Heart' or any other (overplayed) song.”
Despite Shelton's denial, country music historian David Cantrell took to social media to slam his lyrics, tweeting: "On the new Blake Shelton single, saying ‘Hell Right’ to someone taking off ‘Old Town Road’ and putting on something else is, in this moment, a dick move."
Lil Nas X's since-deleted tweet. Source: Twitter
He added: “OK, whatever. But taking off Lil Nas in favour of Hank Jr. will be predictably, understandably read as a racist dick move. WTF Blake?”
In a since-deleted tweet, Lil Nas X also hit back at the song, writing: "It don't slap like old town road tho."
The singer's remix of 'Old Town Road', featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, recently broke the Billboard Hot 100 record after staying at the no. 1 position for an incredible 19 consecutive weeks.
