Country music star Martina McBride is joining the growing backlash against radio executive Keith Hill who said "if you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out."
McBride said it's "really dangerous" to make that kind of blanket statement and called it a "self-fulfilling prophecy."
"You have record companies that don't invest in female artists or sign female artists as much, thinking that they're not going to get a return on their investment or get played on the radio. You have songwriters who aren't writing songs for females as much, because they 'don't get played on the radio,'" McBride said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning."
Hill told Country Aircheck Weekly that women are "just not the lettuce in our salad. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females."
Following her appearance on "CBS This Morning," McBride continued the conversation on Facebook.
"It's really not the tomato comparison that got my attention in the article we have been talking about. I actually thought that was kinda funny. It's the 'If you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out,' comment that was disturbing to me. And the assertion that female listeners like male artists more than female artists. Those are the comments that really got my attention," she wrote.
She said the decision to feature a song on the radio should be based on quality, not the artist's gender.
Last Thursday, Miranda Lambert took to Twitter to express her feelings on the issue, calling Hill's comments "a bunch of bulls--t." Lambert's husband Blake Shelton, nor any other male country artist, had yet to respond.
"I don't like to say what people should or shouldn't do. If he feels strongly about it, he should say something, but I don't want to say that he should or should not. It's really a personal choice," McBride said.
McBride also addressed whether Hill's comments should be considered sexist.
"In regard to the comments being sexist. Hmm...that can be tricky. It seems to me that if a song is not played because of the sex of the artist...it might just fall into the sexist category," she wrote on Facebook.
Hill, the self-proclaimed "leading authority on music scheduling," insisted it's actually females driving the demand, but McBride isn't so sure.
"Some of the biggest-selling albums of all time have been by female artists. So when female artists make songs that people connect with, it obviously works," she said.
Martina McBride responds to radio exec's "dangerous" comments
/ CBS News
Country music star Martina McBride is joining the growing backlash against radio executive Keith Hill who said "if you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out."
McBride said it's "really dangerous" to make that kind of blanket statement and called it a "self-fulfilling prophecy."
"You have record companies that don't invest in female artists or sign female artists as much, thinking that they're not going to get a return on their investment or get played on the radio. You have songwriters who aren't writing songs for females as much, because they 'don't get played on the radio,'" McBride said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning."
Hill told Country Aircheck Weekly that women are "just not the lettuce in our salad. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females."
Following her appearance on "CBS This Morning," McBride continued the conversation on Facebook.
"It's really not the tomato comparison that got my attention in the article we have been talking about. I actually thought that was kinda funny. It's the 'If you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out,' comment that was disturbing to me. And the assertion that female listeners like male artists more than female artists. Those are the comments that really got my attention," she wrote.
She said the decision to feature a song on the radio should be based on quality, not the artist's gender.
Last Thursday, Miranda Lambert took to Twitter to express her feelings on the issue, calling Hill's comments "a bunch of bulls--t." Lambert's husband Blake Shelton, nor any other male country artist, had yet to respond.
"I don't like to say what people should or shouldn't do. If he feels strongly about it, he should say something, but I don't want to say that he should or should not. It's really a personal choice," McBride said.
McBride also addressed whether Hill's comments should be considered sexist.
"In regard to the comments being sexist. Hmm...that can be tricky. It seems to me that if a song is not played because of the sex of the artist...it might just fall into the sexist category," she wrote on Facebook.
Hill, the self-proclaimed "leading authority on music scheduling," insisted it's actually females driving the demand, but McBride isn't so sure.
"Some of the biggest-selling albums of all time have been by female artists. So when female artists make songs that people connect with, it obviously works," she said.
More from CBS News