Singer Maren Morris says she's quitting country music over "toxic" effects of "Trump years"

Singer-songwriter Maren Morris recently announced her departure from country music, citing the effect the "Trump years" have had on the genre as her reason for leaving. "After the Trump years, people's biases were on full display," said the Grammy-winning Morris during an interview with the Los Angeles Times published Friday. "It just revealed who people really were and that they were proud to be misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic." Morris also alluded to Jason Aldean's controversial hit song, "Try That in a Small Town," saying that she dislikes the way music is being used as a "toxic weapon in culture wars."

"People are streaming these songs out of spite," Morris said, adding, "It's not out of true joy or love of the music. It's to own the libs. And that's so not what music is intended for. Music is supposed to be the voice of the oppressed — the actual oppressed. And now it's being used as this really toxic weapon in culture wars."

In the past, Morris has criticized Brittany Aldean, who is Jason Aldean's wife, for remarks made last year about gender-affirming care for kids, The Hill noted. Shortly thereafter, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson described Morris as a "lunatic country person," and Morris — best known for her hit, "The Bones" — responded by raising $100,000 for pro-trans groups through selling T-shirts quoting Carlson's epithet.