The War and Treaty Felt ‘Betrayed’ After Finding Cotton Plant in Dressing Room

• The War and Treaty recalled finding a cotton plant in their dressing room
• The disturbing incident occurred at last month’s Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds Music Festival, where the Grammy-nominated duo still performed
• The husband-wife pair talked to The Hollywood Reporter about feeling “anger” and “sadness” over the derogatory symbol

The War and Treaty are opening up about a disturbing discovery made in their dressing room at the Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds Music Festival last month.

Ahead of their June 29 performance at the Austin event, the husband-wife country duo revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that “there was a cotton plant” in their room, which they found deeply offensive.

“We all know what that means,” Michael Trotter Jr., 41, said of the racially motivated act. “We all know what that represents in this country to people who look like us.”

Tanya Trotter, 50, noted that her experience with the incident “hits hard when you are a granddaughter of a sharecropper.”

“My grandfather actually bought the plantation that he picked cotton on in New Bern, North Carolina,” she shared. “My family actually still lives there. So when you see these things, you look at it, and you’re like, ‘Wow, even though my grandfather bought the plantation, there’s still a lot of pain rooted for people that didn’t get an opportunity to change it into economic development for their families.’”

The “Blank Page” singer said that she “didn’t want to sit in there and educate” anyone about why the cotton plant was an insult “because it’s not my position to educate anybody on what cotton is and what it represents in this country . It just shouldn’t happen.”

“Beyond it just being about racism, it’s broader now,” she added. “It’s now a safety issue because we have to feel safe coming to these festivals.”

Recalling his emotions at the time of the incident, Michael explained, “Anger is what I felt. Disrespect is what I felt. Sadness is what I felt. Sadness not just because of what that plant represents to people who look like me but sadness for myself because I am a son of this country.”

The “Leads Me Home” singer shared that he “felt betrayed” by the derogatory symbol, as he “served this country honorably in the United States Army 16th Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division.”

“I am wounded for that service. I’m very vocal about my wounds and my scars, and I felt betrayed,” he continued. “It’s not fair. It’s something that white artists don’t have to worry about at all… It just happens to come through the bowels of this genre. So, I feel that it’s not enough for us to talk about it, we have to demand that we be about it.”

The War and Treaty still performed at the festival as planned, but Michael told THR he had a moment where he almost pulled them out of the show.

“When I demanded that we quickly leave this festival and get out of there, Tanya and I had a moment in our hotel room where we wanted to address our son, Legend, who’s 12, and he ended up addressing us,” Michael added. “He said that this is not the time to be quiet about it. He was very upset, and he understood exactly what it meant. He’s homeschooled, and he knows what that means… because Ty and I have sat down and drilled it in his head.”

On Wednesday, July 3, after the THR interview was published, the War and Treaty addressed their comments in an Instagram Story post that read, “We went back and forth, wondering if we should speak out on this incident. Ultimately, we knew this issue was bigger than just us.”

The Grammy-nominated pair added, “We hope you’ll take the time to read this article. Thank you for taking the time to report on this @hollywoodreporter.”

PEOPLE reached out to representatives for The War and Treaty and the Sips & Sounds Music Festival for comment.