Metal Song About Gay Cowboys Used to Troll Trucker Protestors

In an effort to disrupt communications between truck drivers currently protesting the coronavirus vaccine mandates and lockdowns in Canada, trolls have infiltrated a channel on the Zello push-to-talk walkie talkie app and have played the metal version of "Ram Ranch," a pro-LGBTQ+ song by Grant MacDonald.

Rolling Stone reported on the story and spoke with both MacDonald as well as a PhD student at a university in Ottawa (who was given the alias Katarina to maintain her anonymity) about the ongoing protests, which have been dubbed the "Freedom Convoy." Action began in mid-January after it was declared that all truckers in Canada would be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before crossing the Canada/United States border.

In response, convoys of trucks have barricaded roads and bridges, making the transport of goods and general travel incredibly difficult for those living in the surrounding areas. Interpersonal hostility is also something citizens have contended with as Katarina explained, "We’re watching destruction of property, harassment, people getting up in locals’ faces and telling them to take their masks off."

As of Feb. 7, a state of emergency was declared in Ottawa, the capital city of Ontario as officials grapple with a response.

While leaders have been busy — or not, as Katarina suggested that there has been much inaction about the "Freedom Convoy" in Ottawa and other areas of Canada — others have taken matters into their own hands and formed their own counter-protest group under the #RamRanchResistance hashtag.

In the Twitter video directly below, audio from the "Windsor Convoy 2" Zello channel shows participants singing the Canadian national anthem, line by line, before a portion of "Ram Ranch" interrupts the song. "Eighteen naked cowboys in the showers at Ram Ranch," is the line that's heard next.

Speaking about "Ram Ranch," MacDonald told Rolling Stone the song's original aim "was to get back at the homophobia of Nashville" after a radio station in Tennessee's capital city rejected LGBTQ+-themed country songs for airplay.