John Rich says he will perform at UNC fraternity ‘rager’

Country music artist John Rich said he is willing to play a “rager” for members of a fraternity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“I reached out and said, ‘Boys, I’m so proud of you. When you guys get that big rage you guys are talking about on GoFundMe, I’d like to come out and put on a free show for you,’” Rich he said on NewsNation’s “On Balance” with host Leland Vittert on Thursday. “And they responded, and I think we’re going to try to make that happen.”

Members of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity stopped an American flag from falling to the ground at a campus protest on Tuesday.

Members could be seen in a series of viral videos holding the flag while activists threw things at them, resulting in a GoFundMe for the fraternity brothers called “Pi Kappa Phi Men Defended Their Flag. Throw them a Rager”, which now has created more than $500,000.

“When I saw the UNC guys holding that flag, making sure it didn’t fall to the ground, that told me a lot about them,” Rich said.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who has expressed his disgust at the recent pro-Palestine protests, has donated $10,000 to GoFundMe.

In recent weeks, protests have erupted on college campuses across the country, focusing on Palestinian human rights and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza amid the war between Israel and Hamas.

The protests also faced accusations of anti-Semitism, which the protesters objected to.

“We are frustrated by media distractions focused on inflammatory individuals who do not represent us,” Columbia protest leaders said in a statement last month. “Our members were misidentified by a politically motivated mob.”

“We firmly reject any form of hatred or intolerance and remain vigilant against non-students who attempt to disrupt the solidarity being forged among students,” they continued. “Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, black and pro-Palestinian colleagues and colleagues who represent the full diversity of our country.”

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