Do we have some country music beef brewing?
Of course this beef isn't really new. When
Florida Georgia Line broke up in 2022, there was a lot of speculation that the duo split due to political differences between Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley.
The reason a lot of people blamed (thanked?) politics for the breakup was because Hubbard unfollowed Kelley on social media during the 2020 election. (Hubbard and his wife Hayley supported Joe Biden, while Kelley and his wife Brittney supported Donald Trump). But since the split, they never really discussed what led to the breakup, and all we could do was speculate.
Well, until yesterday.
It was already clear that there was some bad blood between the two, after Kelley recently released his latest single,
“Kiss My Boots,” that seemed to be a shot at Hubbard with some cryptic messages on social media that sounded a lot like a high school girl trying to prove that she was over her ex.
But Hubbard made an appearance on the Barstool Sports podcast
Bussin' With the Boys featuring Will Compton and Taylor Lewan, and confirmed that he doesn't speak much with his former bandmate these days - saying that the
split caught him by surprise:
“For me it was really unexpected. But BK came to me and said, ‘Man I’m really feeling like I want to do a solo thing.'”
He also revealed that he tried to talk Kelley out of it, with the duo even going to therapy together to try to work through their issues. But turns out Kelley was adamant about it, though he still wanted to keep Florida Georgia Line together. Hubbard wasn’t going to do that though, and basically gave him an ultimatum: It was either FGL or solo, but not both.
“I don’t have capacity to do two careers. And also it’s going to get super sticky. When we’re writing songs, who are we writing for? When we got two show offers, an FGL date and a solo date, what are we taking?
I’m like, I don’t even logistically see how that would work, much less emotionally.”
Well obviously Kelley made his choice and they both went their separate ways – and Hubbard says that it had nothing to do with their political disagreements.
When asked whether he still talks to BK, Hubbard revealed that there’s not much of a relationship between the two these days:
“It’s pretty minimal now, bro. I don’t know if BK needs some space or what but I still try to reach out on text, just ‘Congrats on the new song’ or whatever, but there’s not a whole lot of engagement at this point to be honest.”
And he said a lot would have to change for an FGL reunion to happen:
“I’ll never say never, but a lot of stuff would have to change to be honest. A lot of dynamics would have to – there would have to be some real long, open conversations. Some healing would have to be done for sure before that happens.”
So yeah, sounds like the two aren't exactly the best bros taking Fireball shots around a bonfire together anymore.
But apparently Kelley heard Hubbard's comments on the podcast - and wasn't happy about them.
In a video posted to Twitter, Will Compton revealed that Kelley reached out after the interview and wanted to tell his side of the story:
"Brian Kelley, the other half of Florida Georgia Line, reached out, and we'll just say he was frustrated, and immediately wants to reschedule stuff, he wants to come on the pod, tell his side, because like we all know, there's side 1, there's side 2, and there's the truth."
Oh here we go.
Compton said they would be dropping an "emergency podcast" featuring Kelley within the next 24 hours, so it sounds like we'll get to hear BK's side of things - and his response to Hubbard - pretty soon.
https://twitter.com/_willcompton/status/1788229510560665694
Getcha popcorn ready, because we got country music beef.
