Kris Kristofferson once put Willie Nelson on blast during an interview after his at-the-time recent White House appearance. And I've never seen Kristofferson so smiley.
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In the September of 1980, Willie Nelson was invited to the White House to perform for the Carter administration. Although there is no other record of Willie Nelson singing the national anthem, Kristofferson is very quick to make fun of his performance.
Kristofferson sat down with CFCN Television's Marie Hohtanz the same year, where they spoke about Willie Nelson. Right after Kristofferson commented on Nelson's popularity, Hohtanz brought up Nelson's White House appearance, which caused Kristofferson to burst into laughter.
"He didn't even bother to learn the words!" he laughed. "That rascal!"
"I know he just sat up there and hoped [the lyrics] would come to him," he speculated.
"I was tellin' you before, you know he's not afraid at all about going out and singing anywhere. He's an artist in his element when he's on stage."
Kris Kristofferson was still beside himself that Nelson would perform a song at the White House without rehearsal, however.
"But, to not have enough fear to at least go over the song once!" he said. Especially when "Glenn and Tonya or whoever sang it" for the Republicans would have done at least some practice.
Kris Kristofferson In Awe Of Willie Nelson's Relevance
Although Kristofferson found Willie Nelson's lack of care hilarious and outrageous, his respect for the singer is on clear display at all times.
A little earlier in the interview, Kristofferson admitted that it was "surprising" to him to see just how popular Willie Nelson remained for so long.
"What's surprising to me about Willie is he's been so hot [for] so long, and he keeps getting hotter." He then explained that being put on the magazines marks a death for the celebrity due to overexposure. But not for Shotgun Willie.
"They're so hungry to have a star," he explained. "That as soon as one comes, everybody puts them on the front of every magazine and everybody gets tired of it."
"But nobody gets tired of Willie."
