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Beyoncé fans piled on a country music radio station after it initially refused to play one of her newest songs, forcing the station to respond.
An X post went viral on Tuesday after a man claimed that he reached out to Oklahoma’s KYKC country music station to request the pop singer’s country song "Texas Hold Em." He posted the station's response, highlighting its explanation that "we do not play Beyoncé."
"I requested Texas Hold ‘Em at my local country radio station (KYKC) and after requesting, i received an email from the radio station stating ‘We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station,’" the post read.
The X user tagged the "Bey Hive" fan account and added, "This station needs to be held accountable for their blatant racism and discrimination against Beyoncé."
Oklahoma country music radio station KYKC released a statement emphasizing that the situation was a misunderstanding and that it will begin playing the Beyoncé song. (Kevin Winter)
After ongoing fan backlash, the station released a statement on Wednesday confirming its initial response but calling the situation a misunderstanding.
"We initially refused to play it in the same manner if someone requested us to play the Rolling Stones on our country station," general manager Roger Harris said in a statement. "Fact is we play Beyoncé on TWO of our other stations and love her … she is an icon. We just didn’t know about the song … then when we found out about it, we tried to get the song … which we did and we have already played it 3 times on YKC, our country station. We also play her on 105.5, KXFC-FM and KADA-FM on 99.3."
"But … finally we got our hands on it, and based on the fan support, we decided to air it," he continued. "Truthfully, normally we would (usually) wait a while to see how the song performs on the charts and on bigger country stations than ours, as we are just the little guys."
The station also responded to comments on its Facebook account, noting that it would begin playing the song after it took time to obtain a copy. The account also stated that Beyoncé’s management team called the station to thank them for their support.
Beyoncé appears to be dabbling in country music with a new song. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
In a comment to Fox News Digital, Harris reiterated the station’s love for the pop singer and its dedication to the audience and supporting good music.
"I have always just wanted to play any music if it was ‘good.’ Does it help, if it's a ‘hit’? Yes, because radio listeners do want to hear recognizable, hit songs, and we do understand it's hard for new artists or new artists wanting to break into a new area to do that in today’s rigid typecasting or music and artists. So we try to see all sides of it. In the long run, we just want to serve our marketplace and the community, and play good music," Harris said.
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Whether other country music stations should play the song, he responded, "That really is an individual question to each station because they all have different markets and different type of music that they play."
Fox News Digital also reached out to Beyoncé’s publicist for a comment.
Beyoncé surprised the world on Sunday night after the Super Bowl by dropping the new singles "Texas Hold Em" and "16 Carriages" to preview her upcoming album "Renaissance Act II," set to debut March 29. In contrast to her previous "Renaissance" album, the upcoming "Act II" appears to have more of a country music influence.
Beyoncé previewed her upcoming album "Renaissance Act II" with two new singles on Sunday. (Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood)
Beyoncé previously dabbled in the genre back in 2016 with the song "Daddy Lessons." She also performed the song at the 50th anniversary of the Country Music Awards with the Dixie Chicks.
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