The Liberal Rednecks, coming to Bethlehem, bridge divide between North and South – Allentown Morning Call

In 1993, stand-up comic Jeff Foxworthy began to gather millions of fans by hilariously defining what it means to be a redneck.

"If your kids take roadkill to show-and-tell, you might be a redneck," was the kind of joke Foxworthy told to illustrate what he described as the "glorious absence of sophistication" of many poor white Southerners.

Tennessee-born comic Trae Crowder works in the same redneck milieu, but in a different and edgier way.

Crowder is the self-described "Liberal Redneck," who began to get national attention a year ago after some of his "back porch rant" videos, with politically liberal viewpoints delivered with a Southern accent, went viral on the Internet.

On Monday night, Crowder and fellow "liberal redneck" comedians Drew Morgan and Corey Ryan Forrester will bring their show to the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks to support their best-selling book: "The Liberal Redneck Manifesto: Draggin' Dixie Outta the Dark."

Crowder describes it as their take on themed comedy shows, such as the Kings of Comedy, the Comedians of Comedy and, of course, Foxworthy's Redneck Comedy Tour.

As a strident critic of the majority politics of his home region, Crowder says he has found himself increasingly defending fellow rednecks from a prevailing stereotype.

"I was genuinely surprised to find out that to a great many people in this country part of the definition of the word redneck is racist, regressive, homophobic, hateful," Crowder says in a phone interview.

"Growing up, everyone around me self-identified as rednecks. That's just what we were." While his family was poor, they were not racist or homophobic, certainly not the father who raised him in rural Celina, Tenn., or his uncle, who is gay.

"I knew that a stereotype about rednecks was that a lot of them were racists," he says. "I didn't know that to a lot of people you're not even considered a redneck if you're not a racist hick. I didn't realize that was a thing. I've since come to find out that it definitely is."

Crowder gained fame posting videos ripping North Carolina's controversial public bathroom law, blasting then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

The New York Daily News subsequently hired him to do "Redneck Edition" videos as the newspaper's "hillbilly-in-chief." His videos have more than 60 million views. He also has appeared on "Nightline," "The View" and "Real Time with Bill Maher," among other television shows.

Crowder generally defines rednecks as "poor white people."

"That can run the gamut in terms of ideology," he says. "A lot of those people I'm talking about, they were trying to reclassify me, and say, 'OK, OK, I believe that you're a liberal and you agree with me politically, but you're not a redneck, Trae. You can't be a redneck.'

"That annoys me," says Crowder, who was the first in his family to graduate from college and has an MBA. "It annoys me, people trying to define what I am. My whole life growing up, it wasn't a matter of pride or a matter of choice. It was just what I was. It was what we all were and I don't feel like that necessarily changes because of how I feel about things."

He adds that his views are not as unique among fellow white Southerners as many from the Northeast and West Coast might believe.

"They say things to me like: 'You're like seeing a unicorn.' 'Before I saw your videos, I wouldn't have believed that someone like you could possibly exist,'" Crowder says.

Roughly 40 percent of Southerners typically vote Democratic in national elections, he says. In his home state of Tennessee, Hillary Clinton received 35 percent of the vote in November.

"If you take 40 percent of the entire South that's voting liberal every election, that's millions of people, you know what I mean," he says.

"We're in the minority, but it's not this 90-10 split or 95-5 like a lot of people think it is. There are plenty of progressive people in the South, especially in the cities."

Crowder feels a mix of pride and shame in his Southern heritage. Even the things he loves about it have "a dark side." The music and the food, for example, "are some of the best stuff culturally that this country has to offer."

At the same time, both "are very, very heavily influenced by African traditions. That has a lot of roots in slaves cooking and singing," he says.

"There's a real sense of family and community, which can manifest itself in bad ways when people use family values as a euphemism for hating other people," Crowder says.

"I also think that Southern hospitality is a real thing. I know that it is. Again, there's a dark side to all of these things. The problem with that is, people being real nice and sweet to your face and then talking sh-- the minute you turn your back that Southern passive-aggressiveness."

With his comedy, Crowder says, he is trying to bridge the divide between North and South, red and blue, liberal and conservative. But he admits he has had a lot more luck convincing Northeastern elites that not everybody from the South is a hateful racist than convincing many fellow rednecks to be more tolerant of transgendered people.

"I think that makes sense because with the other Southern progressives, I'm preaching to the choir with them," he says. "The only ones I am trying to convince of anything are the hardcore, ultra-conservative rednecks. It's almost impossible to get them to change their minds.

"Whereas people's perception of the South, that's just like a perspective. It is not a deeply held philosophical belief. It's not as hard to change somebody's perception about something like that, than it is to change somebody's perception about abortion or gay marriage."

At the same time, some Southerners are resistant to liberal arguments because they can sense that their twang prompts a condescending response, Crowder says.

"'They think they're better than me and they think I'm dumb.' That's a real thing. That's a real perception, and also living in California and touring all over the country, I can't say it's not entirely unfounded. There definitely is something to that and that plays into it for a lot of these people."

Crowder moved to California from Tennessee in January to develop a television show based on his comedy. Several networks have expressed interest in the show, which Crowder is writing and hopes to star in.

"Everything else I've got going on, I'm proud of and excited for all of it, but standup is what I really consider myself to be best at, and the same is true of Corey and Drew," Crowder says. "I think the best way to experience our whole thing is at a live show. So I hope a lot of people come out and see it."

Daryl Nerl is a freelance writer.

Jodi Duckett, editor

jodi.duckett@mcall.com

610-820-6704

The Liberal Rednecks: The WellRED Tour

What: Stand-up comedy show featuring Trae Crowder, Drew Morgan and Corey Ryan Forrester

When: 8 p.m. Monday

Where: Fowler Blast Furnace Room, ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem

How much: $25

Info: steelstacks.org

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The Liberal Rednecks, coming to Bethlehem, bridge divide between North and South - Allentown Morning Call