ABC/Image Group LAAfter Blake Shelton took a beating on social media over the timing of his new song “Minimum Wage,” his buddy and fellow Okie Ronnie Dunn has come to his defense.

Some people thought releasing a song about how love “can make a man feel rich on minimum wage” with millions unemployed and struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic was ill-timed.

Ronnie, in a Tuesday Twitter post, called the controversy “yet another one of those misguided social issue (cultural scams) that are concocted to further divide this country.”

“I’m putting my money on the common sense of the common man to call b******* on the forces at work to keep this country divide,” he continued.

The 67-year-old Brooks & Dunn singer went on to explain, “I slept on a mattress on the floor in a musician friend’s spare bedroom and played BEER JOINTS / DIVE BARS for years before I ever made a $100. Most country singers pay dues and go through things to become successful that no sane human being would.”

“Read the lyrics to Blake’s song,” he added. “Hell, I wish I’d written it.”

Shelton debuted the song during NBC’s countdown to 2021 alongside Carson Daly, introducing it as a love song about fiancee Gwen Stefani.

“Minimum Wage” has not been fully released.

My two cents… #RonnieDunn #BlakeShelton #MinimumWage #HardWorkinMan #CostOfLivin #WorkingManBlues @blakeshelton pic.twitter.com/nOFVlYP9pI

— RONNIE DUNN (@RonnieDunn) January 4, 2021

By Megan Duley
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.