No one gets on social media and unleashes a wandering, slightly sporadic rant like Charley Crockett. The country music artist who most recently released Clovis is known for being a prolific songwriter. Thanks to his social media posts, we’re getting the idea that he’s just a prolific writer in general. The Grammy-nominee often posts a picture of himself that’s paired with a long monologue of sorts below. In the latest example, Crockett made sure to clear the air after a news outlet in San Antonio accused him of being “pro data center.” It all started when Charley – believe it or not – shared one of his patented posts, and in that lengthy rant about a number of things… Bob Dylan, the Outlaw country movement, playing the Nashville corporate music machine game, pushing boundaries and briefly, celebrities who were speaking out against data centers, Charley caught a headline. Brad Paisley, Tanya Tucker and Willie Nelson have all come out online to try and stop AI data centers from being established, and although Crockett wasn’t calling them out (Willie and Tanya actually spoke out after Crockett posted), he had this to say about high-profile individuals fighting against the building of data centers: “It’s difficult for me to take a celebrity serious railing against data centers when they’re posting enough selfie videos to house one themselves.” Of course, that was one brief sentence in a greater argument about power in the music industry, but the San Antonio Current took that quote and ran with it. Disingenuous to say the least… But once Charley saw that what he had put out on the internet was spun a certain way, he responded in a way that he often does… another long caption on a social media post. This time, he called out the San Antonio outlet for framing him as “pro data center,” and clarified that he’s anti-AI across the board: “Wow. So now a newspaper in San Antonio is presenting me as pro data center. What a riot. Funny how they didn’t mention I called out the tech billionaires behind them for buying our elections just a few months ago. I’ve been speaking up against AI since way before it was popular to do so, I just wasn’t really on the map. This is conformity. Public shaming because you think god, or your anti-god is on your side. When I said I’m not on the left or the right, I’m on the road, I’m telling you that we see it all out here. Most people can barely pay their rent. Folks are drowning in depression and these phones have a lot to do with it. I think for myself. Conformity is picking a side and sticking with it even when the flag waivers are dead wrong or show themselves to be selfish and corrupt. Step out of line and they’ll ruin you.” And that wasn’t all. The “One-Eyed Jack” singer took things a step further by making it very clear that he’s anti-tech, and anti-phone. Crockett claimed that we are all addicted to social media, and compared the modern day attachment to phones and AI to George Orwell’s famous, dystopian novel: 1984. To close, he said to keep data centers far away from our communities, but brought up the interesting point that, if they are not allowed in certain places in the U.S., they’ll just pop up in third world countries: “You know what would be brave when you stand up against data centers with your platform? Admitting your own participation in it. We’re all addicted to social media. Completely dependent on smart phones. We’re addicted to the instant gratification. That includes me. I got myself off the street by learning how to use one of these things in late 2014. It was a Samsung Android (ha) and I paid my Metro PCS bill every month in cash. Every single thing you do on a phone is backed by data centers. All of it. Root Causes America. Root causes. It’s really starting to look like 1984 out here. I’m against data centers. I don’t like AI. Throw away your phone in America and you don’t exist. I’ve done it. I’ll do it again. Rage against data centers. Keep them as far away from our communities as possible, but wherever they end up they destroy the environment and I wonder if you’ll be satisfied as long as they’re in a poor 3rd world country like everything else we send overseas or across the borderline. This shit reminds me of Vietnam. We didn’t lose that war. Hell I’m wearing a shirt writing this made in Southeast Asia. The only thing we lost was the moral high ground. How many have died in the Middle East since 9/11? Lemme tell you. Millions. Here’s one for you bronco. Vietnam never ended, we just got used to it. Put that in your pipe jack.” View this post on Instagram The post “Put That In Your Pipe, Jack”: Charley Crockett Claps Back After Texas News Outlet Accuses Him Of Being “Pro Data Center” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.