Why Jay DeMarcus Almost left Rascal Flatts over Joe Don Rooney’s Bare Butt.
October 2, 2020
RASCAL FLATTS are celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2020, but they almost didn’t make it past three. JAY DEMARCUS just revealed in a new interview that he threatened to quit in 2003 because of JOE DON ROONEY’s bare butt in the “I Melt” video.
Jay said in a recent interview, “I didn’t know there was a nude scene. I stormed off the set because I was angry that we were gonna put nudity in our video. I almost quit the band that day because our manager [didn’t] tell me.”
“And I thought, ‘My Lord, I’ll never be able [to] stick my head back in a Baptist church anywhere once this comes out.'” Fortunately, the finished video wasn’t that bad. He said in the end “It came out and it was tastefully done, and it was okay.”
The video drew a lot of headlines at the time and was banned from the Great American Country TV network.
The band just released a greatest hits album featuring 13 of their No. 1 songs and seven other fan favorites but “I Melt” doesn’t make the tracklist. Is Joe Don’s butt still to blame?