In theory, 2025 was shaping up to be a big year for country star Zach Bryan, including a first-of-its-kind headlining concert at Michigan Stadium later in the year. He also released a new song, “Dear Miss,” to much acclaim earlier this month. That, for Bryan, is the good news. Unfortunately for him, there’s some bad news as well — and it falls into the category of things that could have been easily avoided with a little more thought.
As NJ.com’s Christopher Burch reports, footage surfaced late last week of Bryan getting into an argument with a man at a New York City bar. Another man in the bar began recording Bryan playing pool using using his Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. Eventually, Bryan grew frustrated with being recorded and confronted the smart glasses’ owner, who defended his actions. Bryan then said, “That’s the gayest thing I’ve ever heard.”
This is not really a situation where there’s much moral high ground. Constantly recording a stranger, even if they’re a celebrity? Not great. However — and this should go without saying — there’s absolutely no reason to use the word “gay” as an insult. Not in 2025, and not ever. And if you know you’re being recorded, you should probably also be mindful to not say anything that you wouldn’t want to see widely circulated.
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He’s also entered new chart territoryBryan’s comments aren’t the worst thing a country star has been caught on camera saying this decade, but they’re still pretty bad. They’re also not the first time Bryan has expressed an opinion he’d later come to regret; late in 2024, he turned off his X/Twitter account after posting a series of statements including “Kanye > Taylor.” (The “eagles > chiefs” part of that post proved to be a bit less controversial.)
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