Look, coming from a girl who likes to jokingly say The Beatles suck (don’t come for me, internet), I get the appeal of poking fun at legendary artists.
It’s a rage-baiting bit that never gets old, no matter the fandom. However, I fear one comedian has taken things a bit too far, absolutely obliterating country music mogul Johnny Cash at one of his shows.
The Australian stand-up comedian and actor Jim Jeffries was featured in a Netflix special about a year ago, and a segment from the show is currently getting traction online after he flat-out stated, “Johnny Cash f*cking sucks.” Now you’d think there would be some sort of hilarious punchline to this claim because surely he’s not serious…right?
Wrong. Jeffries spends the remainder of the clip letting out his anger over the iconic star’s fame, noting that he is “the most overrated artist in American history.” For those also tilting their heads at this statement, he then adds that “if you like Johnny Cash, you’re a f*cking fraud and a liar.”
His next lines got a bit of validity; I’ll give him that, as he proclaims, “More of you have a T-shirt of him going like this [middle finger] than have bought a f*cking album.” He shouts, “None of you can name a f*cking album of his!”
According to Jeffries, Cash had “four f*cking songs,” which he deems as “sh*t,” including “Ring of Fire,” “I Walk the Line,” “A Boy Called Sue,” and “That one about the prison” (his words, not mine). He calls the 13-time Grammy winner and both Country Music and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer a “f*cking hack.”
Just when you think there couldn’t be any more to dog on, he notes that even Cash’s nickname ‘The Man In Black’ is misleading because he was “just a fat c*nt trying to look slim” (I gotta admit that line was somewhat funny). His final punchline of the clip notes that “his biggest concert was in a prison, and that’s because the crowd couldn’t f*cking leave.”
As expected, Jeffries was able to successfully ruffle quite a few feathers in the comment section of the TikTok, calling him out for the blasphemous take:
I can’t dismiss that there were also a few people who found the rant humorous and saw the passionate bit as a lighthearted tease, while others just outright agreed that apparently Johnny Cash is overrated. As for every true country music historian out there with Cash on their Mount Rushmore of country music, they’re rightfully punching the air watching this clip right now.