Kit Roberts
A radio station has responded to backlash after refusing to play a song by Beyoncé.
A listener contacted 100.1 KYKC in Ada, Oklahoma, to request they play Beyoncé's new single, 'Texas Hold 'Em'.
But the station drew accusations of racism when it rejected the request on the grounds that it was a country music station.
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While some of Beyoncé's previous hits may not fall into that category, one listen to her new single is enough to know that this song's genre is, most definitely, country.
The listener was not impressed with the response and accused the station of racism.
They wrote: “I requested 'Texas Hold ‘Em' at my local country radio station (KYKC) and after requesting, I received an email from the radio station stating ‘we do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station.'
"This station needs to be held accountable for their blatant racism and discrimination against Beyoncé.
"@1001KYKC This is absolutely ridiculous and racist. You guys should be ashamed. I grew up listening to your station."
The single 'Texas Hold 'Em' is from Beyoncé's upcoming album 'Act II', which is the second installment of her three-part 'Renaissance' project.
The song was released on Super Bowl Sunday alongside another single, '16 Carriages', and the full album is set to release on 29 March.
A spokesperson for SCORE broadcasting, who owns the station, told UNILAD: "First of all, we are a minority owned station group and abhor anything related to racism and not treating people equally.
"We did not know that Beyonce' (who we play on two other stations...a LOT) was putting out a new country song...secondly...we didn't have it...
"So...as soon as we learned about the song...and as soon as people started calling about it...we spent a few hours getting the song and then adding it to the playlist now on THREE stations.
"We love Beyonce' and have supported her career from the beginning."
Roger Harris, the general manager of 100.1 KYKC, has since responded to the controversy in a statement.
He said: "We initially refused to play it in the same manner if someone requested us to play the Rolling Stones on our country station.
"Fact is we play Beyonce’ on TWO of our other stations and love her...she is an icon."
He went on to say that the station had simply not known about the song and has since played it three times on country station YKC.
He continued: "We love Beyoncé. We just were behind this country music changeover.... But, now that she’s coming out as a country artist, we want to be all over it......we are not fools...we know how big she is and we are happy to air it and wish her the best success."