Jack White and the country star Charlie Crockett’s war of words, which began about a tussle over a support act, has now got really personal.
It all began last month when Twin Temple, the duo who blend doo wop and theatricality with (supposedly) Satanism, were thrown off a couple of dates they were due to support Crockett. The duo broke the news on social media, saying: “We are sorry to everyone who was planning to see us. We’re grateful for your support, not only of Twin Temple, but more importantly of artistic freedom. HAIL SATAN! 93/93.”
At which point, White steps in and, writing on Instagram, offers the pair a support slot at a date next month: “Twin Temple, Would you like to open my show in L.A. on September 29th at the Hollywood Palladium? Let me know. Get in front of me Satan!”
White’s intervention seems to have irked Crockett, who in an Instagram post he later deleted said: “Fuck Trump, fuck Epstein, but Hail Satan? Not me, Jack.”
In a further post, he aimed another catty remark at the ex-White Stripe: “I wonder why he wasn’t so outspoken back when he was in the White Stripes 20-something years ago? They purposely avoided political issues. Maybe he was worried about losing audience back when it was all on the line and he needed all the help he could get.”
Then White volleyed back, posting: “I never said nothing about this young buck before but since he’s trying to drag me into this here rodeo again, here’s my official response to Cowboy Charley’s accusations.” He then added the lyrics to Rappin’ Duke, a novelty 1984 track that includes the lyrics: ‘So you think you’re bad, with your rap, Well I’ll tell ya, pilgrim, I started the crap, When you were in diapers and wetting the sheets, I was at the Ponderosa rapping to the beat’.
Are you keeping up? Now, Crockett has fired back and, in another Instagram post that he’s evidently had second thoughts about (it’s no longer there) wrote a lengthy screed lambasting White. “Lemme guess, you got Che Guevara and Malcolm X on your shelf, maybe even Fred Hampton, but at the end of the day you get in the Lamborghini and put your kids in private school,” he wrote before accusing White of playing “to your base”.
Boys… Boys! This really does feel like we’re back in the playground...
