Vince Gill on Sunday cussed out protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church, a ragtag religious group known for their anti-gay demonstrations at the funerals of U.S. soldiers, and a YouTube video of the encounter was making the rounds on Tuesday.
The Westboro protesters were outside the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Mo., just ahead of a concert by Gill. The Westboro bunch objected to him because he divorced his wife in 1998 and married singer Amy Grant two years later, an act Westboro considers adulterous.
When Gill first approached the protesters, one asked him: “Vince Gill, what in the world are you doing out here?”
“I just came to see what hate looked like,” Gill answered.
“Well, more importantly, what are you doing with another man’s wife?” the protester asked. “Don’t you know that divorce plus remarriage equals adultery?”
Gill responded with another question: “Don’t you know that you f–kers are lucky that you don’t have a sign that says something about my wife?”
Pointing to another picketer, Gill said: “I’ve seen you on TV, man. You’re a big dipshit.”
Gill is apparently familiar with Westboro and its founder, Fred Phelps, and his family, and asked toward the end of the video, “Are any of you guys Phelpses? Or are you guys, like, the C-Team?”