Before you read and get mad at Blake, the tweet mentioned appears to have been meant as a joke. I know some people like to read the first paragraph or two, form an opinion, and skip the ending. I don't want anyone getting mad at Blake without reading clear to the end or at least realizing his original tweet was meant as a joke.
Wow, I'm gone for a day and look what happens, Blake Shelton has officially made enemies of the turtle lovers of the world.
So yesterday, Blake took to his Twitter and tweeted a fateful tweet:
Does anyone know if the Eastern Box turtle is protected in Oklahoma? If so I didn't just swerve to the shoulder of the road to smash one...
Okay, before I move on I have to make a confession...my husband is a swerver. He has a major snake phobia for some reason (I have a feeling his brothers used to torture him with snakes as a child) and if we're driving down the road and there's a snake, he will purposely swerve to run it over.
I hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it and bitch up a storm every time he does it with me in the car. Other animals he won't do that, just snakes. Another confession....I lived in Arkansas as a child and one of my fondest memories were the wild turtles that were everywhere. I had more than a few I "saved" and kept as pets until I got bored and my mom would turn them loose. So running over a turtle on purpose kind of gets me in the memory center of my brain and makes me cringe.
Okay, confessions are now over -- back to Blake. So he tweeted the tweet and the turtle lovers of the world started to attack. You have to feel kind of bad for Blake when this happens because 99.5% of what he says he's just joking and being an ass just for the sake of being an ass and to get a laugh. He enjoys that. I get it and I think most of his fans get it.
Turtle lovers apparently didn't get it.
“@bjkingape: That turtle's life meant something- was your tweet a bad joke? Why would you be so cruel to a living being?”
“@John_F_Taylor: Really what a disappointment u r. Killing turtles with your car then asking if they are protected?”
@turtlefeed For someone who supposedly cares so much about animals, I'm not impressed by you. G'night now.
The Blake hate from turtle lovers even ended up catching the attention of Buzzfeed who wrote a detailed account of what was going on, including in the story all the fans who had chimed in to say they too killed turtles on a regular basis.
In the end, it appears that all the hate was for nothing because Blake wasn't even in Oklahoma when he made his turtle murder tweet:
The best part of all of this is that the dumb asses didn't even look to see that I'm not even in Oklahoma today!! I'm in North Dakota!!
Just to be clear, there are turtles in North Dakota, but I think that's besides the point, according to Blake, the tweet was still just meant as a joke and knowing the things he says on a regular basis, I absolutely believe him when he says that.
That said, as someone who has very fond memories of kidnapping wild turtles as a child to make them my pets, I can see where the turtle lovers of the world were coming from too.
The good news in all of this is that according to the totally scientific video below, most people don't actually swerve to kill turtles.
UPDATE: Blake made the Herp Report. Fun! And for the record, they call him Blake Shiton instead of Shelton. Oh, this has gotten real folks.
On a side note, the pod cast at Herp Report is kind of interesting because the guys actually seem to think that Blake's tweet is going to end his career. Seriously? The two guys hearts are in the right place as turtle lovers, but they're sort of delusional I think and obviously have never paid much attention to Blake's Twitter. They really do seem to think that this story is going to blow up and turn into a PR nightmare and it's all thanks to them.
Funny.
Debbemay -- I never said that my husband running over snakes was any better and am so terribly sorry (sarcasm)that you took it that way. I actually despise it and simply mentioned it to point out the fact that I can completely understand where the turtle people were coming from who were so offended by Blake's tweet about running over a turtle. I'm to the point now, though, that my understanding is running more than a bit thin.
Posted by: Shannon | July 29, 2012 at 07:57 PM
The problem isnt that blake did or did not do it, or if he meant it as a joke. The problem is that people think celebrities are cool & they do the same things to copy them. Now people think that running over a turtle is funny & cool. People are stupid enough to do it just because Blake did it. In these days of trying to encourage conservation this was a very insensitive & stupid thing to tweet. Not to mention the ignorant responses he is tweeting back to turtle lovers that comment on his page. It was simply a horrible thing to say! I feel he should be forced to contribute money to turtle conservation to make up for all the turtles that his fans will run over because of his idiocracy.
Posted by: Irene Gaz | July 29, 2012 at 09:12 AM
This isn't surprising since many country music singers/fans are backwards, uneducated, right-wing rednecks.
Posted by: Carly | July 28, 2012 at 02:32 PM
I just hate it when country musician go out of their way to prove to the rest of the world that country is the music of Ignorant Trash...remember when Gentry killed that tame bear and then tried to pretend he was a Great White Hunter?
When in doubt, as yourself how Johnny Cash (a man who rose to a degree of stardom that this fool will never achieve) would've acted.
Posted by: Terry Hall | July 28, 2012 at 02:27 PM
He runs over snakes? Oh, well that is better? (sarcasm) SERIOUSLY. How is THAT acceptable? And what does that do to show his integrity? I assume you are attempting that.
Posted by: Debbemay | July 28, 2012 at 11:40 AM
WHO makes jokes like that? Nobody who really cares about animals. And then to justify it further by saying that many fans admitted to killing an endangered species, and/or ANY animal. It HAS hurt his reputation. It IS a PR nightmare. And this situation made more then a podcast on the Herp Report.
Posted by: Debbemay | July 28, 2012 at 11:37 AM
I am happy to have you on the show and discuss this topic at anytime.
Posted by: John F Taylor | July 28, 2012 at 11:32 AM