Joshua Bassett explains why he couldn’t respond to Olivia Rodrigo drama

Actor and singer Joshua Bassett has explained why he couldn’t fully respond to the drama that unfolded after Olivia Rodrigo released her hit song ‘Drivers License’ back in January 2021.

Olivia Rodrigo has been one of the biggest rising stars of the past year. While she was initially known for starring in the series ‘High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,’ the release of her song ‘Drivers License’ marked the beginning of her career as an artist.

The power ballad’s emotional lyrics had fans praising Rodrigo’s talent, but many were also fixated on figuring out the story behind the lyrics.

Many theorized the song was about Olivia’s HSM co-star Joshua Bassett, which led to a flood of hate towards the actor.

Bassett, who is a singer himself, released his song Crisis in early December, which appeared to allude to the drama that happened at the start of the year. Lyrics included lines such as: “And if you get to tell your truth, then so do I /And it’s cool if you want me to play the bad guy / But don’t you dare act like I didn’t love you / Don’t go thinkin’ that I didn’t hurt, too.”

Now, in an interview with Zach Sang, Joshua has explained why he’s stayed quiet about the specifics of his side of the situation.

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“The hardest thing in this last year has just been biting my tongue, and sort of trying to protect the people that I love,” he explained.

On the release of his new songs, Bassett added: “I cannot explain my side of the truth, or defend myself without having to expose other people , without having to then be like, ‘well, this is actually what happened and here’s why.’

“And so that was what was tough, is like, I don’t want to do the same thing that’s being done to me, that’s not my goal, I’m not trying to tit-for-tat. However, you cannot ignore this very vital part of the story and hope that everything goes your way, and pretend like there’s not this other reality to it.”

After the release of his song earlier in December, the star asked fans to be respectful, and not send hate to others on his ‘behalf.’