A country music radio station in Oklahoma, KYKC, faced backlash for denying a fan’s request to play Beyoncé’s new country single “Texas Hold ‘Em” — but the station’s general manger is defending the decision.
One Beyoncé fan went viral on X after sharing an email from Southern Central Oklahoma Radio Enterprises Broadcasting after she requested the new song.
The response states, “We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station.”
Fans were outraged by the memo, and some of them even accused the station of “blatant racism and discrimination” against the “Single Ladies” singer and claimed it should be “held accountable.”
Other fans penned their own emails to the station about not playing “Texas Hold ‘Em,” as well as Beyoncé’s other new country tune, “16 Carriages,” which both dropped on Super Bowl Sunday.
“The refusal to play these songs raises concerns about the station’s stance on artists of color. Whether intentional or not, such action contributes to the narrative of racial bias within the country community,” one fan wrote.
“They about to get it,” a third fan said along with a screenshot of their email complaint.
This prompted a response from S.C.O.R.E general manger, Roger Harris, who explained that KYKC isn’t playing the new Beyoncé songs due to the size of the market.
“We are a small market station. We’re not in a position to break an artist or help it that much, so it has to chart a little bit higher for us to add it,” Harris said in a statement.
“But we love Beyoncé here. We play her on our [other top 40 and adult hits stations] but we’re not playing her on our country station yet because it just came out.”
S.C.O.R.E is composed of five radio stations ranging from FM to country. Harris said KYKC follows the trends of bigger stations, so if the songs do well on bigger country stations and the charts, there could be a future where the KYKC plays Beyoncé’s two new songs.
“If somebody calls and requests the Rolling Stones on that station, we’re going to say the same thing,” he said, explaining that the viral email is a “standard response” to fans asking to play non-country artists.
All that being said, KYKC seemingly changed its tune on Tuesday. The station shared a picture of “Texas Hold ‘Em” on X writing, “Lots of call coming in for Beyoncé’s ‘Texas Hold ‘Em.’ It’s coming up in minutes.”
Beyoncé’s new songs will be included on “Renaissance Act II” which she announced will be released on March 29.
The Beyhive is buzzing with excitement after “Texas Hold ‘Em” producer Killah B teased to TMZ that fans are “just gonna have to wait and see” Beyoncé and Taylor Swift will collab on “Act II.”
“Let’s just say [Beyoncé is] on the approach of shocking the world,” he said Tuesday. “I’ll let your imagination decide what that means.”
Some fans are also convinced that Beyoncé and Lady Gaga could reunite for their long-awaited “Telephone” sequel as the teaser trailer for “Act II” include Yoncé driving in a yellow taxi that resembles “The Pussy Wagon” from the pop duet’s 2009 music video.
