Tennessee Congressional candidate Aftyn Behn is currently facing a bizarre controversy. According to her opponents, Behn has admitted to something that, in Nashville, is akin to making a pact with the Devil.

In a recently resurfaced podcast episode, Behn said, quote, “I hate the city, I hate the bachelorettes, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music, I hate all of the things that make Nashville apparently an ‘it’ city to the rest of the country. But I hate it.”

Listening to the entire clip — and knowing that she’s spent the years since that recording living and working in Nashville — it’s clear that she didn’t mean the comments seriously. Still, her opponents pounced, saying that it’s clear that she hates all the things that makes Nashville what it is today — and if she hates that, what else does she hate? America? Our freedom? Apple pie?!?

On a recent episode of Breaking Points, Behn was asked about these comments. Naturally, she said that they were a joke, but she also countered the “hating country music” idea in an, uh, *interesting* way.

Prefacing the comment by saying that she hopes her parents don’t get too mad about the admission, Behn stated, “I do not hate country music. I was conceived after a George Strait concert, so I feel personally attacked.”

She later doubled down on X about her love of country music, saying that she’s “cried in the Country Music Hall of Fame no less than 10 times.”

How she learned this George Strait fact I will never know nor want to know (some people have different relationships with their parents, I guess) — but if this doesn’t prove her country bona fides, I don’t know what will.