Jelly Roll “Bud Lighted Himself” and Country Fans Are Already Deleting His Music

08 Sep 2026, 10:46 by Jerome London · Thought Catalog

Jason Kempin / Getty Images

Updated 32 minutes ago, September 8, 2026

Jelly Roll spent four nights guest-hosting Kimmel roasting Trump’s weight and politics, then told the fans who bailed to go ahead and delete his music.

Jelly Roll (real name Jason DeFord, 41) filled the Kimmel host chair from Aug. 24 to 27 and used the monologues to go after Trump’s poll numbers, his weight, and his appearance at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix.

When country fans threatened to stop listening, his answer was to keep going: “Go right ahead, because I’m gonna keep speaking my truth.” The critics saw a star biting the hand that fed him.

Jelly Roll raises his cap to the crowd while performing at Nissan Stadium during CMA Fest in Nashville, Tennessee on June 4, 2026. Photo by Jason Kempin / Getty Images.

The Bud Light comparison points back to 2023, when the brand’s partnership with a transgender influencer triggered a boycott that hollowed out sales and turned the company’s name into a verb for alienating your own base.

There’s a whiff of hypocrisy in the pile-on too. Jelly Roll met with Trump at a UFC fight at Madison Square Garden in 2024 and has long called himself apolitical, saying his parents pushed “respecting the president.”

Wearing a red ‘Make America Great Again’ cap, President Donald Trump pumps his fist while crossing the tarmac at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey on September 7, 2026. Photo by Eric Lee / Reuters.

Dolly Parton, who died Aug. 25 at 80, gets held up as the counterexample. In a 2018 ABC interview she said, “I learned a long time ago, keep your damn mouth shut if you want to stay in show business. I’m not in politics, I’m an entertainer.”

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