Discovery Channel Homestead Rescue Hasn't Been Cancelled Afterall

Discovery Channel's Homestead Rescue — a reality tv show, which started airing in 2016—has been causing a bit of a stir over the last few months.

First, it was accused of being fake and scripted, and just recently, it faced a major backlash because of a homophobic song from Marty Raney, one of the stars and pioneers of the show, which was released over 20 years ago. The song came into the limelight around August 2020, at which point Discovery had run five full seasons of the show.

And after the controversy happened, many had expected the show to get canceled, but did the show face any such dire consequences, or has the dust settled?

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Discovery Channel’s 'Homestead Rescue' faced Scrutiny for Marty Raney’s Homophobic Song

Apart from being a homesteader and an avid mountain climber, Marty Raney is also a musician and a songwriter. Back in 1997, he released his first album Strummit From The Summit, which also featured a title called Adam and Steve, a derivation from Adam and Eve.

But the song, which is nearly four-minutes long, contains lyrics that dismiss gay relations and condemns acceptance.

Strummit From The Summit Album Cover atop Mt. Denali (Photo: Youtube)

With verses such as "I believe in Adam and Eve, I don't believe in Adam and Steve," "whatever happened to the American dream, when we treated a lady, not a guy as a queen," "I'm an unsung hetero but then again, only in circles where men are men," and "I'm an unsung hetero, but then again, only in circles where men are men, but that circle gets smaller yes every day," it's no surprise that it drew flak from the gay community.

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All the Parties Related to The Show Dis-associated from Raney’s Song

Deadline, an online media company, was one of the first to point this issue out and ask for explanations from Discovery and Raney about it.

Not surprisingly, Discovery distanced themselves from the song, saying that the company did not hold the song's sentiments.

This song which was written over 20 years ago does not reflect the show or the values of the network in any way.

Along with Discovery, two other production companies responsible for the show, Raw TV and All3Media America, also came out with statements of their own dis-associating themselves from the song's sentiments.
Raw TV, which is a British production company, basically reiterated what Discovery said in their statement.

Raw have no knowledge of this song (which was released 23 years ago). We are shocked by its content and we do not share any of its sentiment.

All3Media America, too, responded with a similar message, even saying that they did not even know the song existed.

We were not aware of this song and absolutely do not share the views and sentiments that are expressed.

Despite all these responses, there was nothing but silence from Marty Raney's side, but not much can be read into a lack of response. As Deadline reported, his album, Strummit From The Summit, was removed from streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music shortly after the publication approached Discovery and him for comments.

Marty, however, had, in fact, marketed the controversial album before when he still was part of the show.

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Aftermath of the Controversy: Was Homestead Rescue Cancelled?

The controversy caused by a song released more than two decades ago had indeed brewed distaste from the gay community, but the show did not face any dire consequences. It continues to air on the Discovery Channel with the name Homestead Rescue: Raney Ranch and the latest season of the show can be watched on Discovery Go.