This is controversial? Give me a break… A couple weekends ago, country singer Josh Ross performed at the Tailgate N’ Tallboys Music Festival in Bloomington, Illinois, where he took some time during his set to pay tribute to the United States and how much he loves America. Ross is from Canada and was born and raised there, but moved to Nashville over five years ago to pursue a career in country music. He has released singles like “First Taste of Gone”  and “On a Different Night” which have charted, and in March of 2024, he released his Complicated EP. During his set in Illinois which took place on Friday, June 13th, he waved a large American flag, and said he’s proud to have moved to the “best f****** country in the world”: “Fun fact real quick. I’m Canadian. You want to know the best fun fact? Is I moved to the best f******* country in the world and I love it very much. So thank you very much.” Ross and the crowd then broke into a “USA” chant, and that was pretty much that. Seemed pretty harmless to me: @amamabear324 #USA #America #Americanflag #joshross #tailgateandtallboysbloomington #tailgateandtallboys2025 @Angela ♬ original sound – Amber Nicole But recently, the video has been getting a lot of attention from Canadians and others, and many were NOT happy with his comments. I’m not sure why it seemingly went viral this weekend, my guess is that for some reason it caught traction considering everything that has gone on between Israel, Iran and the United States, and people flooded the comments of that video critiquing him for seemingly bashing (by omission because he didn’t mention how much he loved Canada, I guess?) his home country. Here’s a quick look at some of what people said on a video on Ross’ own TikTok account: “Been away from Canada too long, forgot how to properly say sorry.” “You weren’t wrong! Canada has become so sad!! You don’t need to apologize!” “Josh Ross, I’m trying to understand how you think what you said is not offensive to Canada. US the best Country in the world? I guess you have no idea what is happening around you. I do wish you well.” “You broke my heart. Yes, as Canadians we know how to apologize. But saying sorry doesn’t fix it. Your actions spoke volumes.” “Don’t worry about apologizing. Many Canadian don’t feel like Canada is “Canada” anymore, if you know what I mean.” “I’m a proud Canadian and feel lucky to live in beautiful Canada.” “Yeah… I don’t believe him.” “With the politics and views that the United States is representing and acting towards us as Canadians, Canadians are going to feel offended especially when a Canadian with a voice wants to believe and say out loud the United States is the best when many rights of citizens are being stripped. Knowing your audience is one thing, but remember that videos will be taken at all times and hopefully you learned from this mistake.” “Yep …that it’s definitely 100% offensive!” “Token apology.” “It seemed clear to me.” “Think it was pretty clear what was said and suggested.” “Please don’t say you’re representing Canada! It’s embarrassing! Please stay in Nashville.” “As he says he moves to the beat damn country, waving an American flag, chanting USA.” “Guess what…you have the right to say whatever you want because you are a US citizen & we are so happy to have you here! Saw you at the country fest and you were incredible!” “No need to apologize our country is a mess right now , and we should be free to say what we want.” Those comments were posted on the following video where Ross felt the need to apologized because of how upset people were, and he posted a video on TikTok explaining that he is “as proud of establishing myself in the U.S. as I am being Canadian.” He added that he was sorry it “wasn’t clear” he loved Canada as well: “Hey guys, I just wanted to jump on here and address the clip that’s going around from my performance at Tailgate N’ Tallboys. I’m sorry to anyone who is offended by what I said. I’m grateful I get to tour all over the world, and I feel like I’m always representing Canada no matter where I go. Born and raised in Canada, but have been living in Nashville for the 5+ hears. Half of my family lives in Canada, the other half lives here in the U.S., and I’m as proud of establishing myself in the U.S. as I am being Canadian. Both sides were not communicated in the clip that you guys are seeing, and I’m sorry that that wasn’t clear. Hope y’all have a good one. Bye.” Here’s the full video: @joshrossmusic♬ original sound – Josh Ross It’s just wild stuff like this gets to the point that he needs to issue an apology video on TikTok, but in the day and age of social media and people just taking things way out of context, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised.The post Canadian Born Country Artist, Josh Ross, Issues Apology For Saying He Moved To “The Best Country In The World” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.