Why Was Willie Nelson Banned From a Prestigious Texas College

Willie Nelson is certainly one of the greatest Texas performers in history; he's traveled & performed all over the world. Especially here in Texas. However there's one college that most likely he will never be able to perform because he's banned there & that's the private Baptist Christian university, Baylor University.

Why is Willie Nelson banned from Baylor University?

On August 28, 1988, there was a news story circulating from the United Press International saying that Willie Nelson was "BANNED AT BAYLOR". They had canceled his November 14th concert & the big question is, WHY?

Well, it turns out the school had actually given an answer...sorta.

When asked about the ban, a spokesperson for Baylor University, Eugene Baker, explained that certain activities that Willie, & his audience, have engaged in, led to the decision from Baylor University to cancel the concert and ban Willie from performing.

What I found interesting was that the interviewer was hoping to get an answer on exactly "what type of activities" they were talking about. The spokesperson mentioned that one of his songs, "Whiskey River", would be inappropriate on campus. So while they didn't outright say WHY he was banned, it might be a safe bet that because of Willie's songs about alcohol or perhaps Willie's other "recreational activities", that might have led to this ban in 1988. You can see the whole 10-minute interview on the Texas Archive website.

The REALLY interesting part of this story is that Willie Nelson actually went to school at Baylor University during the mid-50s for 2 years before dropping out because his music career took off. It's unknown if Baylor will ever lift this ban that has been going on for nearly 40 years; there was even a fan-made petition on Change's website to lift it. We can only wait to see what happens.

Willie wasn't the only celebrity banned in Texas; other celebrities like Ozzy & Madonna have been banned for various reasons too.

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