Pat Boone Sounds Off on America's "Going Down the Tubes Morally"

The Christian actor and singer points to degradation in the entertainment industry as a big part of the problem.

Pat Boone (left) appears with Eric Close in a scene from the 2022 movie "The Mulligan." Image: Reelworks Studios.

Having become a pop music star in the 1950s, and one who also has dozens of acting credits to his name, Pat Boone is marking his 70th year in show business. In an interview with Fox News, the 88-year-old makes it clear he does not like the direction things are heading, saying much of what is now produced in music and films is "a steady diet of the worst."

The Florida native is a vocal Christian known for a squeaky-clean image that he continues to uphold in films like his 2022 golf picture The Mulligan, in which he plays a mentor to a younger man with anger issues. He says that the entertainment industry is upside down now, having gone from the country's "greatest export" that told the world "America's a great place," to one where "attacks on our morality come from every direction."

"It's all spooks and zombies and extraterrestrials and vampires, and scaring the pants off everybody and scaring the souls in people. And it's a steady diet of the worst. And the songs that are all about infidelity and getting drunk and drinking your troubles away."

Boone adds that while country music has focused on that sort of subject matter for quite a long time, he now feels that the general preponderance of such unwholesome entertainment fare is a reflection of a broader and dangerous trend in America: "We're going down the tubes morally in every way."

The performer is not, however, just sitting idly by complaining about it. He recently teamed up with country stars like Ray Stevens, The Gatlin Brothers and Lorrie Morgan to produce a humorous new song entitled Grits, which he calls "fun" and a "healthy thing." You can check it out via this YouTube link.

Earlier this year, Boone put out his 28th book, an autobiographical work called IF: The Eternal Choice We All Must Make, and he is also endeavoring to produce a Broadway musical about the life of Walt Disney. It is a work he describes as "faith-building, family-friendly, joyous," all of which sounds like it is right up Mr. Boone's alley, so here's hoping he brings it to fruition.