“Therapuss” host Jake Shane is facing online backlash for asking Kacey Musgraves to explain a lyric from her 2018 track “Slow Burn.”
When asked what lyric or song she is most proud of, Musgraves told Shane during her “Therapuss” interview, “I think ultimately, maybe ‘Slow Burn.’ I think it feels the best. I feel like I’m at home in my dead center whenever I’m playing that song.”
Shane responded with another question, “My favorite line from that song, obviously, is ‘Sun’s going down, but in Beijing, they’re headed out to work.’ What do you mean by that? Me and Manny, who I work with, debate it every single day.”
Musgraves went on to explain that the lyric was not a “deep-coded thing” and “literally just means what it means.” She added, “I was sitting on my porch in Tennessee, and picturing these people around the world, doing their thing over there. You know, it’s like the world just keeps turning.”
One X user was extremely critical of Shane’s line of questioning. They wrote, “We need to end influencer interviews in lieu of actual journalism because what do you mean Kacey Musgraves had to explain how time zones work to Jake Shane?”
Another X user wrote, “How does this man have a job [sic] he is interviewing these people without an ounce of media literacy.”
This isn’t the first time Shane has found himself at the center of a debate about influencers’ role in entertainment journalism. In March, Shane was one of three influencers asked to cover Vanity Fair’s Oscar party red carpet. His appearance sparked discourse online after he asked Julia Fox and Damson Idris if they thought the sick child from “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” was “so annoying.”
