Who is Oliver Anthony and what’s the deal with ‘Rich Men North of Richmond?’

Over the weekend, Oliver Anthony went from a relative unknown to a viral country star to an adoptive beacon of the conservative movement.

You could’ve easily missed it if you disconnected for even a few days.

But we’ve got the breakdown, the questions that need answering, and what you need to understand about the whole controversy surrounding the musician.

Who is Oliver Anthony?

In short, Anthony is a country artist from around Farmville, Virginia. His TikTok account, @oliveranthonymusic, was relatively unknown — that is, until this past weekend. Anthony went from thousands of views to millions for his song “Rich Men North of Richmond.”

At first blush, it comes off as a working-class anthem taking aim at the powerful and the politicians in Washington, D.C. who are, as the song says, just north of Richmond. It speaks about selling your soul for low wages, powerful forces controlling your life, and a working person’s dollar not going very far. An initial TikTok of the song racked up some 5 million views and a follow-up got nearly 2 million views.

Anthony quickly shot to (relative) fame. He has a clearly defined image: a big red beard, a rural setting (the story is that he’s “off-grid”), and when singing, a distinct, gravelly voice and heavy twang. The music is raw and has clearly resonated with people.

What’s the controversy?

Here’s where things get sticky. While the verse Anthony initially posted was relatively benign, the full song leans into far-right rhetoric. Posted by YouTube account RadioWV, it’s garnered a whopping 12 million views in just six days. It also revealed some verses that feel like cribbed right-wing talking points. The supposed working-class anthem rails against overweight people who receive government assistance and references Jeffrey Epstein and child trafficking.

The verse goes:

“I wish politicians would look out for miners / And not just minors on an island somewhere

Lord, we got folks in the street, ain’t got nothing to eat / And the obese milking welfare

Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds / Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds

Young men are putting themselves six feet in the ground / Cause all this damn country does is keep on kicking them down”

It’s definitely more subtle than Jason Aldean’s recent right-wing hit “Try That in a Small Town,” but the message is pretty clear nonetheless. Taxes are bad. Obese poor people are bad. There are certain politicians — you know which — who are abusing children, which is a common right-wing smear of liberal, or LGBTQ, figures. Of course, Epstein was doing horrific things and powerful people were allegedly involved, but not in the simplistic way right-wing figures want it to seem.

Then, as the internet does, it dug deeper. Oliver Anthony’s YouTube page featured a public playlist titled, “Videos that make your noggin get bigger” that’s effectively a who’s who and what’s what of right-wing figures and conspiracy theories. People like Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro and multiple conspiracy videos about 9/11 involving Jewish people.

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Some of the videos seem a lot like the New World Order conspiracy theory, and it makes you wonder about lyrics in the song like “living in the new world / with an old soul.” That particular conspiracy theory is often tied to antisemitic idea that there is a secret global cabal run by Jewish people that controls everything in the world.

So while there isn’t much known about Anthony outright at this moment — he hasn’t said much of substance publicly — what hints we do have about him, seem to indicate he could hold some right-wing beliefs.

Who’s supported Oliver Anthony?

It didn’t take long for the usual, hyper-online conservative folks to take up the singer as their latest cause célèbre. Matt Walsh has posted about it a bunch. So has singer/conservative celebrity John Rich. Ditto with Dan Bongino, Mike Flynn, Kari Lake, Jason Whitlock, Benny Johnson, and so on.

It’s not like Anthony has jumped out and said, Hey, I’m the singer for right-wing America, but they’ve embraced him as such. So much so that folks are spreading an unproven rumor that Anthony is a conservative industry plant, propped up out of nowhere by the online, right-wing movement. Again that isn’t proven but just goes to show where his most vocal support is coming from.

But, to be clear, it’s not like conservative influencers are the only people who’ve supported Anthony and his music. He hasn’t gotten millions and millions of views on that alone — it’s just that those figures have taken him on as their own.

What happens next?

Anthony, at least for now, is a major rising star. “Rich Men North of Richmond” and other songs from Anthony have rocketed up the top of the iTunes charts. A local show at a small venue was packed to the gills with new fans.

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The country music space is an interesting one these days. You’ve got Aldean’s hit but also Jason Isbell railing against it. There’s John Rich but also Tyler Childers, who recently debuted a music video showing a gay love story.

Where, exactly, Anthony fits in that landscape remains to be seen.