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Blake Shelton defends booted 'Voice' contestant in Twitter tirade against music critic

By KATE STANTON, UPI.com
UPI/Kevin Dietsch
UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

"“Holly Tucker is gone. It took much too long. But finally. Back to Baylor University in Waco for you, madam," Houston Chronicle critic Joey Guerra wrote in a short recap of Tuesday night's episode of "The Voice." Guerra also tweeted a link to his blog post with the comment, "#TheVoice sends one singer back to Texas. Don't worry, it's not the one we care about."

Displeased with Guerra's criticism about one of his chosen contestants, "Voice" judge Blake Shelton fired off a series of angry tweets attacking the blogger for picking on "kids just trying their best." [WARNING: Strong language ahead]

Guerra said later that he gets paid to critique performers like Tucker.

"If he took that as a knock to Holly, I can't really change that. I'm honestly shocked at the nastiness of his responses and the responses of people on Twitter, which have included death threats," Guerra told the Chronicle.

My job is to be a music critic, good and bad, and I will continue to do that, knowing that not everyone will agree with me, especially when it comes to TV singing competitions. Not everyone can win. And not everyone is equally fantastic. I'm proud of the work that I do, and I believe I've been fair. Nothing I said was out of malice or spite.

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Shelton issued a semi-apology for his outburst: "I'm sorry for going off y'all... But I am passionate about encouraging young people to follow their dreams.. We GOOD people don't need hate."

"To the few folks (mostly writers) upset about my rant. What he said was mean. There's NOTHING you can say to defend or justify it. Move on," he said.

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