The Ben Shapiro Show - August 27, 2026


Jelly Roll Just Sold Out. Here's Why.


Episode Stats


Length

17 minutes

Words per minute

192.06

Word count

3,297

Sentence count

254


Transcript

Transcripts from "The Ben Shapiro Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
00:00:00.000 When Dolly Parton died, the entire country went into mourning, left and right, pretty much everybody.
00:00:04.000 And there's a reason for that.
00:00:06.000 Dolly Parton coded country, she coded Christian, she coded optimism, she coded entertainment.
00:00:12.000 She did not code political, and she refused to engage in that way.
00:00:17.000 And this made her perhaps the most popular figure in America.
00:00:20.000 We are never going to get another Dolly Parton because Hollywood will not allow it.
00:00:25.000 And Jelly Roll just proved it.
00:00:27.000 This is the Ben Shapiro Show.
00:00:36.000 All right, so Jimmy Kimmel has taken a couple of weeks off, and his substitute hosts are somehow even worse than Jimmy Kimmel.
00:00:41.000 I did not know that that was possible, but apparently it is.
00:00:45.000 First, there was Rosie O'Donnell, who returned from Ireland to wear hideous outfits and sing about the president's penis.
00:00:50.000 And then Jelly Roll showed up.
00:00:52.000 And Jelly Roll, you know him as the country singer who has shed a lot of pounds, like a lot of pounds, like 300 pounds or so.
00:01:02.000 He showed up to host Jimmy Kimmel, and there he decided to do the obligatory mea culpa.
00:01:07.000 For his prior cultural conservatism by ripping into the president of the United States, there was Jelly Roll on Jimmy Kimmel.
00:01:17.000 Well, Mr. President, from one fat pig to another, take it from me that physical fitness is very important.
00:01:22.000 And trust me, you'll be happy to see your penis again.
00:01:27.000 I mean, I don't know who the writers are on this.
00:01:30.000 It's not good.
00:01:32.000 Well, then he came back and did another show the next night, and he defended his Trump jokes while he was on Jimmy Kimmel Jelly Roll.
00:01:40.000 Now, let's be honest for a second.
00:01:42.000 Any U.S. president should be able to handle a few jokes, right?
00:01:46.000 They should also be able to handle gas prices, health care, and the occasional international conflict.
00:01:58.000 Look, y'all, I get it that some people are mad at me for goofing on Trump.
00:02:01.000 But if you wanted me to make jokes about Kamala Harris, you should have voted for her.
00:02:05.000 Okay, so what is Jelly Roll doing here?
00:02:11.000 What is he doing?
00:02:12.000 The answer is that in Hollywood, you no longer can just be Johnny Carson, where you make jokes about all the different sides.
00:02:18.000 And you can no longer be Dolly Parton, where you make jokes about kind of neither of the sides.
00:02:21.000 You just can't do that anymore.
00:02:23.000 You must repeat the left wing nostrums.
00:02:25.000 There reaches a point in your career, you have to make a choice.
00:02:28.000 Are you going to double down on the bass?
00:02:29.000 Are you going to keep dancing with the gal that brung you?
00:02:32.000 Or are you going to swivel hard into the cultural leftism and try to expand that bass?
00:02:37.000 This has been happening in the music industry for probably two to three decades at this point.
00:02:41.000 And it's one of the reasons why our cultural milieu has been completely fragmented.
00:02:45.000 It's why there are no big stars anymore.
00:02:47.000 It's why no one can open a movie.
00:02:48.000 It's why there are very few crossover stars, even in the musical arena at this point.
00:02:54.000 And Jelly Roll is just a great example of this.
00:02:56.000 Remember, Jelly Roll didn't just code conservative, he was very openly, very openly Christian, very openly.
00:03:03.000 Pretty conservative.
00:03:05.000 His history, kind of like Dolly Parton's in the sense that he's a rags to riches story.
00:03:09.000 He was born Jason Bradley to Ford in Nashville in 1984, according to Entertainment Tonight.
00:03:14.000 And he ended up in jail before he even graduated high school.
00:03:17.000 He was imprisoned at age 14.
00:03:19.000 He welcomed his first child while he was still behind bars.
00:03:22.000 And then when he got out of jail and he had had his daughter, he decided to pursue his GED.
00:03:29.000 And then he tried his hand at the music business in 2003.
00:03:32.000 He started out in hip hop with his first release.
00:03:36.000 And then he made a pivot to country and rock, and he ended up in the Grand Ole Opry stage in November of 2021.
00:03:44.000 And then he, of course, turned into a sort of national phenomenon.
00:03:48.000 But along the way, not just coding country and coding down home, he also coded very hard Christian.
00:03:54.000 So in 2026, he won the best contemporary country album.
00:04:00.000 And here is his speech First of all, Jesus, I hear you, and I'm listening, Lord.
00:04:05.000 I am listening, Lord.
00:04:08.000 Second of all, I want to thank my beautiful wife.
00:04:10.000 I would have never changed my life without you.
00:04:11.000 I'd have ended up dead or in jail.
00:04:12.000 I'd have killed myself if it wasn't for you and Jesus.
00:04:15.000 I thank you for that.
00:04:16.000 That's why I wrote this album.
00:04:17.000 I didn't think I had a chance, y'all.
00:04:18.000 There were days that I thought the darkest things.
00:04:20.000 I was a horrible human.
00:04:21.000 There was a moment in my life that all I had was a Bible this big and a radio the same size and a six by eight foot cell.
00:04:27.000 And I believed that those two things could change my life.
00:04:30.000 I believed that music had the power to change my life and God had the power to change my life.
00:04:35.000 And I want to tell y'all right now Jesus is for everybody.
00:04:38.000 Jesus is not owned by one political party.
00:04:41.000 Jesus is not owned by no music label.
00:04:44.000 Jesus is Jesus, and anybody can have a relationship with him.
00:04:50.000 Okay, so again, this is how Jelly Roll coded, right?
00:04:54.000 He coded again, very, very, very faith based.
00:04:59.000 Here was Jelly Roll preaching gospel after hearing a rendition of his song on Netflix's Star Search.
00:05:07.000 I prayed this morning.
00:05:09.000 I said, God, give me an opportunity.
00:05:13.000 To talk about you.
00:05:21.000 I said, God, I said, night one was great, but I didn't get to live on my purpose yet, God.
00:05:28.000 You called me here to talk about you.
00:05:31.000 Amen.
00:05:42.000 And what I just seen was a room full of people that might not have ever felt it before, but that is called the Holy Spirit of God.
00:05:54.000 And let me tell you something about the Holy Spirit of God.
00:05:57.000 He doesn't care anything about your past, He doesn't care what you've been through, He doesn't care about your drug addiction.
00:06:03.000 He is your father.
00:06:04.000 He is here to father you, to show you to be a father to those kids, He is here to pour life into you.
00:06:11.000 He hung so you could stand here and sing his name on the biggest streaming service in the world on night two of us being live on Netflix.
00:06:22.000 Okay, so again, this was Jelly Roll's image.
00:06:25.000 And politically, he certainly didn't code left.
00:06:27.000 I mean, here is a tape of Jelly Roll greeting President Trump and Elon Musk and Don Jr. at, I believe, an MMA event.
00:06:42.000 You can see him there.
00:06:43.000 He's meeting President Trump.
00:06:44.000 Obviously, they're getting along fine.
00:06:47.000 And then, and there is Kid Rock, who shows up as well.
00:06:51.000 And then things kind of changed.
00:06:52.000 So he's been dropping a lot of poundage.
00:06:54.000 He dropped about 300 pounds since 2022.
00:06:56.000 At one point, he weighed 550 pounds.
00:06:59.000 And he has been saying that he loves his new body and all this.
00:07:01.000 And then he got divorced in July.
00:07:03.000 As he got divorced from the woman who he was paying homage to in that clip from the Country Music Awards.
00:07:10.000 And he said, according to the court documents, That they finalized their divorce after 10 years of marriage.
00:07:18.000 And an insider said, The reality is that he will always love her, but that doesn't mean he wants to stay married.
00:07:24.000 He's in a very different place than he was when they met.
00:07:26.000 And he said, Jelly feels healthy, focused, and in control of his future.
00:07:29.000 Okay, so what's actually going on here?
00:07:31.000 What's actually going on is there's enormous cultural pressure, enormous cultural pressure for people who reach a certain level of stardom to then have, quote unquote, crossover stardom.
00:07:39.000 And the way that you get crossover stardom is to start signaling left.
00:07:43.000 You can't just live in cultural conservative space, even if you're not overtly political.
00:07:47.000 That's not good enough.
00:07:48.000 You must speak out on issues political.
00:07:52.000 You must.
00:07:53.000 You'll be forced to.
00:07:54.000 This is why there will never be a Dolly Parton again, because our society will not allow there to be a Dolly Parton again, or because our public figures don't have the strength of character to just avoid all of this.
00:08:04.000 A great example of this is Taylor Swift.
00:08:05.000 Are you coming up?
00:08:06.000 We'll get to some other stars who made the switch, who changed their politics in pursuit of the cash.
00:08:11.000 But when we talk about your cash, here's the thing.
00:08:14.000 Every day, your cash gets less valuable thanks to the federal government, which is constantly inflating the currency.
00:08:19.000 And here is something that you don't know about your retirement money.
00:08:21.000 You can actually hold certain physical gold and silver inside a self directed IRA.
00:08:25.000 This isn't a new loophole.
00:08:27.000 Federal law has permitted certain precious metals in IRAs for decades.
00:08:29.000 Depending on your retirement account, you may be able to move qualified IRA or 401k assets into a self directed precious metals IRA through a properly executed rollover without triggering current taxes or early withdrawal penalties.
00:08:42.000 You know, whenever you think about retirement, you're offered a bunch of different options, but you probably don't know about this one.
00:08:46.000 If you want to explore that particular option, Golden Crest Metals can walk you through the entire process.
00:08:50.000 They help with setting up the self directed account.
00:08:53.000 Coordinating the rollover, selecting eligible metals and arranging secure storage.
00:08:57.000 The preferred custodian is in trust group with secure IRA storage available at Delaware Depository.
00:09:02.000 Golden Crest is a boutique precious metals firm built around transparent pricing, liquid products and straightforward service.
00:09:07.000 And right now, my listeners can get a free investor kit, a free portfolio review with no obligation and up to $25,000 in free silver on qualifying purchases.
00:09:15.000 Text the word Ben to metals at 63825.
00:09:18.000 You can also speak to somebody.
00:09:20.000 Just call 888-429-39999 or Visit GoldencrestMetals.comslash Ben again.
00:09:25.000 That's GoldencrestMetals.comslash Ben.
00:09:28.000 The legacy media have been getting it wrong for a very, very long time.
00:09:31.000 And it turns out social media also gets it wrong.
00:09:33.000 So where do you go for good information, particularly for young people?
00:09:36.000 The answer is PragerU.
00:09:37.000 Millions of students log on every day for five minute videos on economics, history, faith, and freedom that teach the truth, not what CNN and others want young people to believe.
00:09:45.000 PragerU doesn't have a paywall, no smirking newscasters, no bias dressed up as objectivity, just the facts presented in an age appropriate, wholesome, all American way.
00:09:54.000 But PragerU runs on people like you.
00:09:56.000 Not the government, not advertisers who despise you.
00:09:58.000 Give today.
00:09:59.000 Your donation is triple matched.
00:10:00.000 You're doing something great for America.
00:10:02.000 When young people learn truths they wouldn't learn elsewhere, PragerU is doing that every single day by the millions.
00:10:08.000 Go to prageru.comslash dailywire.
00:10:10.000 That's prageru.comslash dailywire.
00:10:12.000 Again, they've basically been a sister company to Daily Wire since inception.
00:10:15.000 We've been very close.
00:10:16.000 We used to share office space.
00:10:17.000 They're awesome and they do amazing work.
00:10:18.000 Go check them out right now.
00:10:19.000 PragerU.comslash dailywire.
00:10:21.000 Give today.
00:10:22.000 Your donation will be triple matched.
00:10:24.000 So Taylor Swift is the most successful example of somebody who went from a Dolly Parton type figure to somebody who's pretty overtly political.
00:10:31.000 So, you remember, for years and years and years, there was speculation on the right that Taylor Swift was secretly conservative because she started off in sort of country and the gospel area.
00:10:41.000 And very early on at 22, she said, Listen, people don't want to hear my politics.
00:10:45.000 This sounds like something Dolly Parton would say.
00:10:46.000 Here she was when she was 22.
00:10:48.000 I just figure I'm a 22 year old singer.
00:10:51.000 And, you know, I don't know if people really want to hear my political views.
00:10:55.000 I think they just kind of want to hear me sing songs about breakups and feelings.
00:11:02.000 Part of the fabric of being a country artist is don't force your politics on people, let people live their lives.
00:11:09.000 Okay, but.
00:11:10.000 Then, within a few years, she realized that this is not where the money was.
00:11:15.000 This is not what would allow her to have crossover stardom.
00:11:19.000 So, she did a documentary for Netflix in which she pretty openly started pushing left wing social values because her silence was too deafening.
00:11:27.000 She needed to have that crossover appeal to the left.
00:11:30.000 And listen, it's made her more rich, it's made her more famous, it's made her the most powerful star on planet Earth.
00:11:35.000 But that is the price of admission.
00:11:37.000 The price of admission in today's day and age is you must repeat, particularly on social issues, the nostrums that the left is pushing.
00:11:44.000 You must.
00:11:45.000 Here was Taylor Swift back in 2020 talking about how Christian values support abortion.
00:11:51.000 It's really basic human rights and it's right and wrong at this point.
00:11:55.000 And I can't see another commercial and see her disguising these policies behind the words Tennessee Christian values.
00:12:06.000 Those aren't Tennessee Christian values.
00:12:09.000 I live in Tennessee.
00:12:10.000 I am Christian.
00:12:11.000 That's not what we stand for.
00:12:14.000 I need to do this.
00:12:15.000 I need you to just.
00:12:17.000 I didn't need you to forgive me for doing it because I'm doing it.
00:12:20.000 And of course, she did the same thing in 2020 when she was pushing LGBTQ plus minus divided by sign politics years late.
00:12:27.000 She had a very forced song that came out, I believe, that same year, a gay rights anthem that came out about 10 years after the issue was even relevant.
00:12:34.000 Because again, she had to say the thing.
00:12:36.000 It was really important for her to say the thing because the cultural left in Hollywood will only allow you to become a gigantic crossover star if you say things that the left wants you to say.
00:12:46.000 Here she was in 2020.
00:12:49.000 I'm really, really grateful for this.
00:12:50.000 This is so amazing.
00:12:51.000 I want to say thank you to anyone who had a hand in deciding that I should deserve this.
00:12:57.000 And mostly, I want to say thank you to the fans for giving me a platform to make music and to be vocal about the things that I think are right and wrong.
00:13:04.000 I just believe very firmly that everyone should be able to live out their love story without the fear of discrimination.
00:13:10.000 And the way for that to happen is for us to continue to keep pushing governments to put protections in place for members of the LGBTQ community.
00:13:19.000 And I promise to always advocate for that.
00:13:23.000 Again, say the words, say the words.
00:13:24.000 And again, she's not the first to do it.
00:13:26.000 Katy Perry actually did this originally.
00:13:28.000 She originally started singing Christian music and she was known by her birth name, which was Katie Hudson at the time.
00:13:34.000 And then it turns out that she couldn't sell copies.
00:13:37.000 She had a Christian album and it sold a couple hundred copies, the label closed.
00:13:39.000 So she adopted the stage name Katy Perry.
00:13:42.000 And then her first big hit was about experimenting with lesbianism, of course.
00:13:44.000 And then she became an Obama surrogate.
00:13:46.000 And now she's dating Justin Trudeau and all of that.
00:13:49.000 In other words, this is not rare.
00:13:50.000 This is de rigueur.
00:13:51.000 What you're watching with Jelly Roll is the way that you do things.
00:13:54.000 In Hollywood, you cannot even mildly code conservatives.
00:13:58.000 You must be overtly liberal.
00:14:00.000 If you're Sidney Sweeney and you're not overtly conservative, you are just kind of apolitical and you kind of code a little conservative because you're a pretty white girl and because you have like a little bit of a country feel to you and because you once registered Republican.
00:14:14.000 This means that you are a target in Hollywood.
00:14:19.000 If you are Chris Pratt and you're a huge star and you've never said anything remotely offensive, but you're openly Christian, And you don't go to an LGBTQ plus minus divided by sign progress pride flag church, then X will come after you incessantly for years on end.
00:14:37.000 If you're a Gal Gadot and you just happen to be Israeli and pro Israel, you will get blacklisted in Hollywood.
00:14:43.000 That's the way that it works.
00:14:45.000 If you're Mark Ruffalo and pretty overtly anti Semitic, you'll never stop working because if you are of the left, then you will never stop working.
00:14:52.000 This is the way that it works in Hollywood.
00:14:53.000 Now, that doesn't mean this is going to work for Jelly Roll.
00:14:56.000 That is, Jelly Roll makes the turn to the left.
00:14:57.000 He's going to become more popular and more famous.
00:15:00.000 There's a mixed record in sort of the country arena for this.
00:15:03.000 You remember that the Dixie Chicks were a huge band.
00:15:05.000 And then in 2003, Natalie Maines decided to go after George W. Bush in London while she was on stage, and the Dixie Chicks basically had this huge cultural moment and then just fell off.
00:15:15.000 Or Marin Morris, she had a breakout single that was literally called My Church, and then she ended up ostracized after public fights with Jason Aldean's wife over transing the kids, and then she went after Morgan Wallen, and then she came out as a bisexual.
00:15:28.000 Has that been a big boon for her career?
00:15:30.000 Probably not.
00:15:33.000 Right?
00:15:33.000 Or Zach Bryan, who's a Navy vet and pretty red state coated, and he'd praised President Trump, and then in October 2025. He posted a snippet of bad news with anti ice lyrics about ice busting down doors and the fading of the red, white, and blue.
00:15:45.000 Unclear how that's going to materialize for him.
00:15:47.000 But here's the point Hollywood's dynamic used to be obvious.
00:15:51.000 The entertainment industry was about protecting your stars, singers, songwriters, movie stars, athletes.
00:15:58.000 The goal of our entertainment industry was to create marketable stars who were separate from their politics.
00:16:04.000 You did not know that much about the stars.
00:16:06.000 All you knew is what you saw on screen.
00:16:07.000 This is why Dolly Parton was very famous and very rich and very good at what she did.
00:16:11.000 All you saw of Dolly Parton is what she wanted you to see of Dolly Parton.
00:16:15.000 And this is why American stars were transferable throughout the world.
00:16:19.000 This is why the most famous people on planet Earth were all American stars.
00:16:22.000 You didn't know much about their politics at all.
00:16:24.000 You just knew that they were stars.
00:16:26.000 And that's when America was the dominant cultural force on the planet because it was cool people doing cool things, and they weren't kind of regular normies with their dumb politics.
00:16:34.000 And then everything had to be weaponized the star power had to be weaponized, the entertainment industry had to be weaponized.
00:16:40.000 We had to know every view of all of our stars, and the stars just aren't stars anymore.
00:16:45.000 There won't be any more Dolly Partons because the entertainment industry will not allow there to be any more Dolly Partons.
00:16:50.000 You must say the words.
00:16:52.000 You must.
00:16:53.000 And if you refuse to say the words, then they will treat you as though you are persona non grata.
00:16:58.000 So Jelly Roll made his decision.
00:16:59.000 We'll see how it works out for him.
00:17:01.000 What an amazing video you just watched.
00:17:02.000 Wasn't that amazing?
00:17:04.000 Well, you know, if you think so, head on over to dailywire.comslash subscribe to watch the full show ad free or check out this crazy story here.