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Who is Travis Tritt? Musician backs James Woods against 'resisters', here's why he's blocking people on Twitter

Twitter users were surprised to find Tritt trending on social media along with actor James Woods

With the United States heading towards the presidential elections this November, things in the political sphere are heating up with more celebrities jumping into the fray to support their preferred candidate. One such celebrity happens to be musician Travis Tritt who clearly supports Trump. 

Who is Travis Tritt?

A multi-platinum country singer, songwriter and actor, Tritt has been a performer for over three decades. Apart from winning the Billboard Artist of the Year in 1990, Tritt has bagged some major awards throughout his career like the Country Music Association Horizon Award in 1991. He also won the Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals in 1993 for 'The Whiskey Ain’t Workin' with Marty Stuart and in 1999 for 'Same Old Train' with Clint Black and friends. Tritt also won the Country Music Association Award for Vocal Event of the Year in 1992 for 'This One’s Gonna Hurt You' with Marty Stuart, in 1993 for 'I Don’t Need Your Rockin' Chair' with George Jones, and in 1996 for 'Honky Tonkin’s What I Do Best' with Marty Stuart. He's also known for hit country songs like 'Country Club' and 'Help Me Hold On'.

Why is he trending?

Twitter users were surprised to find Tritt trending on social media along with actor James Woods. The 57-year-old Tritt began to trend after he backed Woods's call to block as many "radical leftists" as one could by searching for the hashtag 'resist.' Woods, best known for starring in movies such as 'Once Upon a Time in America', 'Videodrome', and 'The Virgin Suicides', caused controversy after tweeting, 'Reminder: block any twenty accounts a day that have the hashtag “resist” in their profile. It slows them down and offsets Twitter’s shadow-banning of conservative accounts.'

He backed up the above statement and provided an even better way to approach the blocking issue by saying, 'Use the search function. Type in “#resist” and spend a few minutes blocking as many as you can. Let them sit in an echo chamber screaming at the sky together. If millions of us do it, they are herded into a corner. Use other obvious key words as well. It adds up.'

Tritt then took to Twitter to back Woods's claim. Angering many Twitter users, Tritt wrote, 'Per my friend @RealJamesWoods, type #resist in your Twitter search bar. Block at least twenty of these accounts per day. We will soon make them as irrelevant as they have tried to make the rest of us.'

The country singer further revealed that he has been blocking left-leaning accounts for months already. Tritt tweeted, 'FYI - I’ve been doing this for months prior to @RealJamesWoods suggestion.'

Tritt later angered more people by tweeting, 'One thing that #resisters hate the most is to be ignored.'

Twitter responds

The statements made by both Woods and Tritt were met with heavy criticism on social media. Many Biden supporters tweeted against Woods's and Tritt's tweets. One user wrote, 'What people don't realize is that James Woods and Travis Tritt playing "block the libs" is actually DEFENSE against the tremendous shitstorm of truth about to drop on trump's head. They can't learn about it if they block our tweets.'

Another user, expressing disbelief over Tritt's comments, wrote, 'Ooh! Let me play. It’ll be fun! @Travistritt & @RealJamesWoods blocking people with “resist” in their feeds & profiles is like 8-year olds plugging their ears with their fingers and shouting “Na-na, na-na! I can’t hear you!” So cranky. Does somebody need a nap? Maybe a binky?'

Others were a lot harsher in their criticisms, like this Twitter user who wrote, '#TravisTritt sounds like the antibiotic-resistant STI you’d catch from having unprotected sex with #JamesWoods.' While another asked 'Who is Travis Titt?'

Pointing out how Tritt's move supports cancel culture, another user wrote, 'So James Wood, Travis Tritt, and a bunch of other wilted asparagus stalks are blocking radical leftists. I guess cancel culture is cool when washed up White dudes do it.' Another wrote of Tritt: "Travis Tritt is getting more exposure for blocking people on twitter than he did for his entire musical career  #RedneckSnowflake."

While many of the young people on Twitter were totally clueless about who Tritt and Woods were, one user wrote, 'I’ve been blocked by both James Woods and Travis Tritt. Had anyone asked me about Travis Tritt before today I would have said he was a nice guy based off meeting him at the Kentucky Derby a few years ago. Now I’m going to re-tell that story and make him seem like a huge a**hole.'

Tritt's response

Responding to the controversy, Tritt tweeted, 'If you’re like me, I get sick and tired of arguing with sheeple who automatically subscribe to any fake news story from anonymous sources without researching anything on their own. It is an exercise in futility.'

As the elections get closer, more musicians are celebrities are inevitably going to jump in to speak for their preferred candidate. The 2020 US Presidential elections is scheduled for Tuesday, 3 November.