If you tuned into The Voice last night, or watched the above video, and you were willing to sit through the overly extended pre-results pause that drags on just before the results were announced, you likely heard Adam Levine's response, which was simply, "I hate this country." It comes in at the 1:15 mark in the clip above and is heard through the audio, though Levine is not on screen at the time. Chances are, he wasn't being serious and it probably wasn't meant to be heard by the audience, but his mic was on at the time, and now it's making headlines.
The Voice results spoilers ahead! Levine's comment was made following the reveal that Amber Carrington had been sent through to the next round and Judith Hill was eliminated. End spoilers. Per The Wrap, Levine has since issued numerous tweets, which somewhat sarcastically address the outrage over his comment:
We should assume Levine's "I hate this country" was not meant to be interpreted as "I hate my country," or "I hate America" or something as intensely unpatriotic as it might be, if taken literally - and judging by his tweets, he didn't mean for it to be taken literally. But given the attention the quote's getting - and honestly, it's hard to tell if the backlash is as rampant as our discussion of said backlash - that assumption may not be universal. Assuming there are a lot of people firing back at Levine on Twitter and the like, I feel compelled to defend the singer and TV show judge. Maybe the people complaining over his comment have never questioned the tastes of the voting majority when sitting through a results show that features the elimination of one of their favorite contestants, or have uttered a frustrated response - not meant to be taken literally - in a moment of disappointment. And at the same time, it's an unfortunate choice of phrasing for Levine. He may not have known the mic was hot, but it's probably a lesson to be learned about candidness on live television.
