Wheeler Walker Jr., the country-singing alter-ego of comedian and Kentucky native Ben Hoffman, reemerged recently to promote a comeback tour and the April 15 release of his album Sex, Drugs & Country Music. Walker returned to the public eye while the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville hosts an exhibit dedicated to a common target of his anti-pop-country ire, Florida Georgia Line.
Walker staged a one-person protest of the exhibit earlier this week (the footage was posted on Wednesday (March 9)), picketing outside the building with a sign which read "FGL does not belong here."
"They have a Florida Georgia Line exhibit, man, it stinks. They stink," Walker yelled at passers-by while encouraging them to spend their money elsewhere.
Other insults fed off pop versus country complaints that predate by decades the common criticisms of Sam Hunt, Luke Bryan and other 21st century stars.
Walker got kicked out by security soon after relocating to the museum's lobby, where he continued to slam FGL and ask strangers to not buy tickets. When Walker tried arguing his '"right as an American" to protest, a security guard told him that he was being asked to leave private property.
In a profanity-laced video recently posted to social media, Walker laid out his plan to get "canceled."
Three albums have been released by the Walker persona: 2016's Redneck Shit, 2017's Ol' Wheeler and 2018's WWIII. His comeback tour kicks off on April 14 at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium. The 12-date trek lasts through the first of June.
Florida Georgia Line: Mix It Up Strong opened at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum on Feb. 6, 2022 and runs through Jan. 1, 2023.
