An unfounded rumor circulating online claimed a person associated with the Grand Ole Opry music venue in Nashville, Tennessee, once told country music singer Vince Gill he couldn't mention or sing about Jesus Christ while onstage.
For example, in October 2024, numerous Facebook users shared and discussed posts with images showing a photo of Gill with the words, "After being forbidden to sing about Jesus, Vince Gill steps on stage and belts out."
Many of the posts' captions asked users to read the comments so they could follow a link to an article. At least one of those articles contained an embedded video from the Rumble video platform.
Rumble Video Received Nearly 2M Views
Rumble user internetroi posted that very same video (archived) years earlier on Jan. 30, 2017. The user's handle appeared to stand for "internet return on investment." The account's profile picture displayed an image for American Web Media (AWM.com) — a website that the Media Bias/Fact Check media-awareness website once described (archived) as "a clickbait website that repackages news stories with the intent of clicks and social media sharing."
The video's title read, "They Told Vince Gill Not To Sing About Jesus, But He Does Anyway!" During the clip, the video's onscreen text also claimed, "When the Grand Ole Opry invited Gill to play, they asked him to leave the Lord at home. But he decided to praise God anyways!" As of October 2024, the video displayed nearly 2 million views.
AWM.com Website Article and Little Big Town Induction
In either late January or early February 2017 — right around the same time someone associated with AWM.com posted the video on Rumble — the same person or a different person also published a corresponding article on the AWM.com website. (The AWM.com website was inaccessible as of the writing of this fact check in October 2024.)
The article reported on Gill's presence at the Oct. 17, 2014, Grand Ole Opry Hall of Fame induction for the country music group Little Big Town. The story displayed the headline, "They Told Vince Gill Not To Sing About Jesus, Reacts By Belting Out Classic Gospel [video]." The story began:
Inducting a country music star into the Grand Ole Opry is a big event and it still remains as one of country music's crowning achievements. The membership list speaks for itself as it includes country music legends including: Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells, Hank Williams, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, the Dixie Chicks, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire and Alan Jackson to name a few.
So, with the hype of such an event, every time a star or group is inducted, it is certainly a night to remember. One of these nights was recently had, when the group Little Big Town was recently inducted. As to be expected, it was a big production when Vince Gill joined the group on stage and belted out one of the most memorable renditions of "Why Me Lord." The group of four including Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, and Phillip Sweet were joined by just two guitars. It didn't take much for their voices to dominate the venue, and Gill was just icing on the cake.
Evidently, prior to the event, Vince Gill was told not to sing about Jesus, but instead he came back with the most breathtaking religious performance, and didn't think twice about it.
The story did not mention the name of the person who purportedly told Gill he could not mention or sing about Jesus.
Conclusion
While it's true Gill joined Little Big Town onstage for their Grand Ole Opry Hall of Fame induction in 2014 — including to sing a rendition of Kris Kristofferson's Christian-themed song "Why Me" (also known as "Why Me Lord") — we located no evidence whatsoever of anyone at the world-famous venue telling Gill he could not mention or sing about Jesus Christ.
At the time of Little Big Town's induction in 2014, People, Rolling Stone, the Nashville-based newspaper The Tennessean and USA Today all reported the news. None of those articles mentioned anything that might lend credibility to the rumor about someone telling Gill to not mention or sing about Jesus Christ. Also, we noted the Grand Ole Opry is historically known for featuring a variety of genres, including gospel music.
Further, we noted that, in 2016, the official Facebook page for the Grand Ole Opry highlighted the "perfect harmony" of Gill's and Little Big Town's performance of "Why Me" at the 2014 hall of fame induction. We also located additional clips from the same evening.
As such, we rate this claim as unfounded — a rating we apply when there is no demonstrable evidence to support a claim.
We contacted representatives for Gill and the Grand Ole Opry to ask about this rumor and will update this story if we receive any further details.