Every year, Carrie Underwood releases a song for the NFL, and every year it has its mix of fans and naysayers. This year, however, it's caused a particular ruckus.
'Game On', as the song is called, was released a few months ago, and has been used in the NFL's promos before each match.
Here are some of the lyrics, just to give you a taste of what we're talking about here: "Everybody's ready for the party/Everywhere coast to coast/Come on we're just getting started/Been waiting all weekday let's go/Gangs all here for the throw down/Rowdy crowd rocking the place/The NFL's beast in a show down/Fired up and ready to play."
Upon hearing the song, Jessica Smetana, a producer and showrunner at Sports Illustrated, took a distinct dislike to it, and decided to post her feelings on Twitter. Big mistake.
To be fair to Smetana, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and she didn't actually attack Underwood's character at all - just the song itself. And others joined in with her sentiment, with one commenter adding: "Completely agreed! Song doesnt [sic] fit pregame football!"
Unfortunately, not everybody saw it that way, and the tweet soon attracted swathes of comments from people who thought she was being particularly harsh about the country singer's work.
"I dont like every song by my favorite artists but so what? Some don't but a lot do. My point? If you dont like something, just move along [sic]," said one person.
"It’s sad that you have nothing better to do than tear another woman down," added another. "There are tons of music artists that aren’t my favourite and I don’t feel the need to go bashing them."
And then Underwood herself stepped in.
Again, what she said wasn't too harsh - but the fact that she'd said anything at all was enough to get her fans piling on.
"Unfortunate that as a woman you would encourage hate of another woman," one person said. "One happens to be amazingly talented and a role model for my daughter!"
Another added: "I think hate is a very strong word. How about this isn’t your favourite version she has recorded. I think that would be more respectful. Plus I think it’s ok not to like everything, but hate is very strong. Maybe you could find something you like-outfits, her smile, etc."
But those were relatively kind compared to the sorts of things that Smetana got in her DMs:
After these were shared, many people called out Underwood for her unnecessary targeting of Smetana in the first place.
"This is why what Carrie Underwood did is not ok," said one fan. "This is a response to Jessica as a result of that quote tweet. CU should be more responsible with how she engages people."
"I am on team jess here and think this was an unwarranted cheap shot by Carrie," commented another.
Ultimately, while Underwood did not herself participate in any "cyberbullying", her actions led to other people piling on and attacking a woman for one tiny comment she made - and that's why she's now being put on blast. It's clear that no extreme ill-intent was intended by either party, and that the situation only escalated because other people decided to be abusive online.
