When Aaron Lewis left the rock group Staind to pursue a career in country music in 2010, he likely envisioned plenty of radio hits, which would help support both tours and album sales. Unfortunately, that has not happened for Lewis, with only one big hit at radio, with "Am I The Only One."
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The issue, according to Lewis, has nothing to do with his talent, and everything to do with his political beliefs. In a new interview with Tucker Carlson, Lewis says he is being completely shunned because of his views, which he freely shares.
"They won't play me," Lewis says (via PennLive.com). "They don't like my thoughts on things."
Lewis dates his lack of radio success back to the beginning of his country music career, which fell when President Obama was in office. Lewis did not hide his distaste for the former Commander-in-Chief.
"I immediately recognized it as a horrible blow to our country, immediately, not even knowing why yet," Lewis recalls.
'[I] just knew instinctively in my gut that we had made a massive, massive mistake as a country," he adds.
Aaron Lewis Reveals Why He Does Not Have Any Success At Radio
Perhaps coming from a successful rock band like Staind gave Aaron Lewis the fortitude to freely share his political opinions, even if it could potentially hurt his career.
"TMZ would get me when I landed in L.A.," Lewis recalls. "And they'd get me and ask me questions, and that was when I started expressing my feelings and opinions on politics."
Lewis also made headlines for all the wrong reasons, when he reportedly told a crowd in Texas that he did not know how to speak Spanish because he is an American.
"The world ended for like a week," Carlson says. "Broke the internet. Aaron Lewis, a racist. Perez Hilton did a hit piece on me. They would write these hit pieces and actually attach the video that completely contradicted the hit piece."
Lewis could keep quiet and have more success at radio. But for him, that isn't an option.
"It's nice not to have to undermine my value in a market," the 53-year-old says. "Because the radio station wants to get as much out of my show as they can, so they sell my ticket for a low-dough $10 ticket, and I've just devalued my value in that market by selling such a cheap ticket.
"I don't need to sell myself short by doing favors for a radio station," he remarks.
