Vince Gill has revealed that he threatened host Don Imus during an on-air confrontation over his wife Amy Grant’s speech.
Vince Gill has said he almost had a fight with his best friend after he “took a dump” on her and started belittling his wife, Amy Grant.
“Everybody she meets is crazy about her,” the country star told Phil Rosenthal and David Wild on their “Naked Lunch” podcast Thursday. “I remember when we first got married, we were very good friends [legendary radio host] Don Imus … And, you know, he was an actor, and he’s loved me forever and Delbert McClinton and I were his favorite, two of his favorite artists.”
But Gill said that after she and Grant were married, Imus “turned on her” and “turned on me and started running around and harassing me on his show every morning.”
Gill said Imus would say, “‘I can’t believe my favorite singer, Vince Gill, lost the Baby Jesus, married that Christian girl,’ and blah blah blah.”
Soon after, when he had a new record, he said he told his publicist that he wanted to be booked on Imus’ show.
“They said, ‘Are you nuts?’ I said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘I want to go and do a show.’ And they said, ‘Well, raping every day.’ I said, ‘I know.’ I was even booked on the show,” he explained.
He first sang a song on Imus’ show, then they had a small talk, “and finally Amy’s name came up.”
“He said something about Amy and I said, ‘I’m glad you brought Amy up,'” he continued. “I said, ‘I’ve been hearing you say terrible things about my wife, and I want to know why.’ I said, ‘You used to be my biggest supporter’ and this and that.”
The “When I Call Your Name” singer confronted Imus about never having met Grant.
“I said, ‘Well, if you ever meet him, you’ll never say a bad word about him,'” Gill said, adding that he told Imus, “‘I’m going to shoot you straight.’ I said, ‘I really came to this show for one reason.’ I said, ‘Either we’re going to discuss this, we’re going to direct this,’ I said, ‘or I’m going to crawl over this desk, and I’m going to kick yours.'”
“Imus’ eyes got big,” Gill said, thinking they better “get this thing.”
“I said, ‘Good decision, Don,’ you know, so we had a good tour, and I left the studio and went back home, and I turned on his show and he was still going, and I heard him say, ‘I don’t know why I was giving that guy such a kick.
Gill and Grant married in March 2000 and will celebrate their 26th anniversary this year.
