Blake Shelton, after blast from gay-rights group, says he's sorry for controversial tweet: 'I love everybody'

Blake Shelton's quickly becoming the most lovable judge on NBC's "The Voice" -- so why are some people claiming that he's making anti-gay jokes?

The controversy started on Thursday when Shelton tweeted that he was rewriting his favorite Shania Twain song. "Any man that tries Touching my behind He's gonna be a beaten, bleedin', heaving kind of guy," he wrote, in what many people interpreted as a homophobic comment.

Gay-rights group GLAAD demanded that Shelton apologize. "No, @BlakeShelton--violent, anti-gay statements are not what a woman wants," the group tweeted. "Apologize now. #LGBT #gay #thevoice @NBCTheVoice."

Shelton complied. "Hey y'all allow me to seriously apologize for the misunderstanding with the whole rewrite on the Shania song last night," he tweeted. "It honestly wasn't even meant that way...I now know that there are people out there waiting to jump at everything I say on here or anywhere."

"But when it comes to gay/lesbian right or just feelings...I love everybody," he added. "So go look for a real villain and leave me out of it."

He even asked GLAAD for some support: "@glaad hey I want my fans and @nbcthevoice fans to know that anti-gay and lesbian violence is unacceptable!!!! Help me!!!! And DM me..."

NBC declined to comment, but reps at "The Voice" vouched for Shelton on Twitter: “@glaad listen to us #thevoice when we tell you that @BlakeShelton is all about love, laughter, music, @AdamLevine and no hate. #teamblake."

Shelton's "Voice" cohort Adam Levine also backed him up, writing "@blakeshelton what did you go and say now? Don't sweat it big country. I know you’re a good person. Well…yeah you’re a good person."

Eventually, GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios praised Shelton for taking "the right step in speaking out against anti-gay violence and sending an important message to his fans and viewers of The Voice."

-- Melissa Maerz

Photo: Blake Shelton. Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images

Comments

[JasonM]

Thought experiment: if a woman had Tweeted that, she would be praised as a fierce, brave, feisty sister.

Sexual harassment is not OK, even if it's dude-on-dude.

Sexual harassers who grope and fondle SHOULD fear being beaten and bleeding. It's just an unfortunate fact that women's lower muscle mass and testosterone make them more vulnerable to this atrocious behavior.

Blake Shelton is well within his rights not to have his behind touched by anyone he doesn't invite to do so -- straight or gay. He did nothing wrong. Good for him.

[anne]

His remarks weren't funny or completely appropriate but I don't detect a homophopbic impression. I don't want a woman touching my "behind" or a man either without my permission--does that mean I'm against homosexuals?
No--just means keep your hands to yourself.

[blackaren]

I find the internet so confusing for themost part. Well actually the people on the internet are confusing. Anyway,Blake Shelton was re-writing the words to Miss Twain's song. Now this is where I must have dozed off.Any guy touching his behind..Why would a guy be touching his behind? Is the intimation that the guy must be gay if he touches 'his' behind? What is it people? Since the substance of this article is so far over my head I guess they weren't talking to me. okey-dokey. That's the end of that..

[blackone]

I don't usually watch TV, so I know nothing about "The Voice", but I know he's a very good songwriter and singer.

[Heisenberg]

I really do not understand Twitter. Is this actually a sentence?? :

“@glaad listen to us #thevoice when we tell you that @BlakeShelton is all about love, laughter, music, @AdamLevine and no hate. #teamblake."

[XM]

GLAAD, please learn to pick your fights. Adopting behaviors from the Al Sharpton crowd will damage your credibility as well as take away attention from real cases of discrimination.

[DRE DAWG]

overreaction and i still like him

[PadrePete]

@XM their overactionary credibility is already beyond damaged. if some homosexual ever groped or assaulted me, he'd be lucky his next of kin could identify the remains. don't like that glaad, happy, fuzzy, feelie, pedo, whatever you are, etc. send ME a tweet @gotohell!
as for mr. b shelton, don't be too ashamed, you're not the only person in the world lacking the character to stand your ground. i heard thet're having a lemmings anonymous meeting at the edge of half dome...

[misanthropicus]

RE XM: "[...] GLAAD, please learn to pick your fights. Adopting behaviors from the Al Sharpton crowd will damage your credibility [...]"

a) completely right, yet it's too late - while Shelton has (unnecessarily) apologized, the Target debacle showed that GLAAD is a cotton tiger with foam fangs - and that the homosexual movement has peaked, and now has devolved in scattershot predatory actions which further antagonize the people -

b)... and that the homosexuals have returned to their naturally capricious, querrelsome and obnoxious state that for a while was abjectely papered over by the MSM - LA Times deeply involved in this untirely unwarranted en-nobling activity -

Expect only debacles in the incoming GLAAD actions - and I'm GLAAAAAAAAD! that my prediction will be confirmed every time GLAAD will holler "Wolf!" -

[Sophie]

I'm not being facetious, but I've honestly never heard of him, nor The Voice.

[Pablo LA]

Come on! I am gay and I support Glaad all the time, but this is not a homophobic phrase nor guy. Let's spend our time and money fighting the real fights.

[Lucy]

@PadrePete, what you don't seem to grasp is that there are still places in the world where people can be jailed and/or executed just for being gay. I also don't ever recall any incidents equivalent to the Matthew Shephard incident where straight people were beaten and/or killed for being gay. Furthermore, any man who says "I would beat the (stuffing) out of any gay guy that touched me" just comes off as pathetic, or maybe closeted.

[Glenn]

I can't believe this media-savvy guy didn't know his "little joke" would cause an uproar. I think he did it on purpose to get attention. Just another fame whore.

[PadrePete]

they might not have been "gay" @lucy, but a quick study of the "freedom riders" during the 60's might open your cloudy eyes. straight white men AND women were beaten, killed and jailed right next to their black brothers and sisters.
maybe you should also read @pablo right above your comment. while i personally don't condone what he represents, at least he sets his priorities properly in representing his side of the argument.
and yes and too bad: in this context it was given or in any other context... NO ONE has the right to lay a hand on another... for any reason, they should expect whatever befalls them! some things deserve a more detailed beating than others... you don't even want to know what floats in my head when it comes to punishing murderers or pedophiles.

[stnh]

The bottom line is, you can say anything you want about homosexuals and get by with it. You can't say anything derogatory about any race or group of people without serious consequences but it seems open season on gays and lesbians.

To all of my fellow gay and lesbian brothers and sisters and transgendered as well. It is 1955 and we must refuse to give up our seat on the bus. If we don't take a stand, we will forever be bullied, have simple rights like the right to marry, robbed of us and treated like dirt.

[MrTemecula]

I think Blake was singing about prison and those are prison rules.

I'd cut Blake some slack. GLAAD didn't have to publicly rebuke him. They could have done it privately, through Christine, a friend of theirs. This was handled poorly. Now GLAAD has an image of a thought police who's more interested in embarrassing potential friends rather than opposing real opponents. Blake and his fans were never adversaries, but GLAAD picked this fight. Stupid.