“Jordan Hudson Has More Affiliation” – App State Fans Roast UNC For Selecting Eric Church As Their 2026 Commencement Speaker

Honestly, that’s a GREAT point.

And I love Eric Church and I love his music, but as a fellow App State alum, he completely deserves the backlash for this one… sorry, not sorry.

It’s well known that he’s a massive Carolina fan, so much so that he infamously even canceled a concert in San Antonio, Texas in 2022 pretty last minute to attend a game between Carolina and Duke in the Final Four with his family, after he realized the two longtime, arch-rivals would be facing off in the semi-final round for the first time ever.

Of course, fans who were supposed to be at that concert were rightfully pissed, though Eric did his best to make it up to them with two free shows last September for all of the fans he cancelled on. But either way, the move made national headlines, especially in the sports and music community, with many people divided on the ethics of it.

But what often gets lost in the conversation is that Eric is actually an alumni of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, where he earned his marketing degree and graduated in 2000. Western North Carolina is also where he started his music career, and played all around the Boone area specifically before eventually moving to Nashville and started pursuing a full-time career in music there.

Of course, he has accomplished a ton since then, winning major country awards, scoring huge hits in addition to traveling around the world performing for sold-out crowds in massive venues, so he’s obviously learned a lot and done things I’m sure he never could’ve imagined as a small-town kid from the mountains.

So I’m sure he’ll have a ton of wisdom to impart on the future graduates of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when he gives the commencement speech there in the Spring of 2026, which was just announced this week:

“Being asked to be the Commencement speaker at North Carolina is one of the greatest honors I’ve ever had. Being a Tar Heel ‘born, bred, dead’ and knowing what the school has meant to me and my family, it’s surreal.

To be able to be there and celebrate the future, the students at the University of North Carolina as they go onto their next journey, I’m honored to do it, and I can’t wait to see everybody there.”

Here’s the announcement post:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (@uncchapelhill)

While Eric doesn’t like to admit that he went to App, I’m quite the opposite and am a very proud Mountaineer and graduate of Appalachian State. I’m a mountain girl through and through, which is why I have such a hard time understanding Eric’s ridiculous fandom for Chapel Hill when he never attended the school that would make him such a dedicated and staunch supporter.

College football (and basketball) in the South is just different, and it’s all very personal here, so if I sound insane for being upset by this, just know you don’t get it and that’s perfectly okay…

But it sounds like I’m not the only one, because people online have been ripping him for doing this speech, with many of them pointing out the extremely obvious, It actually is pretty funny if you really think about it:

The App State alum oh my lord you couldnt write the joke any better https://t.co/DRnmtYoXjv

— Phil (@PyrrhicLight) October 2, 2025

Tarheel 101. https://t.co/U0hWTPqlJS

— Kevin Davidson (@KDavidsons) October 2, 2025

Having people you’d never admit to your university do the commencement >>> https://t.co/olzm2fLXww

— Phillip Risk (@Phillip_Risk) October 2, 2025

Jordan Hudson has more affiliation with UNC than Eric Church https://t.co/waoNCrfelw

— Nick (@nickmc95) October 2, 2025

At this point @appstate just needs to rescind this guy’s degree https://t.co/6J1yw7xTB9

— Pack Chat (@PackChat1887) October 2, 2025

Judas strikes again. Bastard https://t.co/mgCUrOQoWT

— Yosef’s Burner (@Yosef_Burner) October 2, 2025

Again, the jokes write themselves. https://t.co/2rDhDRWeFb

— Jack (@WolfpackJack10) October 2, 2025

Yikes… https://t.co/FHCIvea9KZ pic.twitter.com/vEEmkZ6bqE

— James Giglio (@JamesGiglio16) October 2, 2025

Makes total sense to have an App grad! https://t.co/Yjv37fxOCf

— Lara Reed (@reedpackof5) October 1, 2025

If we have enough demand to build another set of luxury boxes on the east side then we for real need to stop letting Eric church buy one.

If he’s gonna continue fundraising and speak at UNC then we need to cut him off from the program because that crap harms the App State image.

— Yosef’s Burner (@Yosef_Burner) October 2, 2025

It’s not the first time people have roasted Eric for being a “Walmart” Chapel Hill fan, which basically means that you can find Carolina gear at any Walmart in the state and call yourself a fan, whether you have any other ties to UNC or not. It’s the “flagship” North Carolina school (whatever that means). Basically, you’re a fake fan… kind of embarrassing, actually.

It’s a phrase you’ll hear a lot in North Carolina, and like one fan said below, most Chapel Hill fans did not go there, and the ones that did… yeah, not my favorite people. I won’t be playing devil’s advocate here, but Eric is far from the only fan like this… it’s sadly all too common.

What makes it worse is that, like many of the above people pointed out, he basically ignores App even though that’s where he went to school for four years and also got started playing music. You simply don’t turn your back on where you come from. Though this is a completely separate issue from all of the wonderful work he’s doing for folks in Western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which is admirable and impressive, and I’m very thankful.

But still, I cannot lie to you and say it doesn’t bring me a lot of joy seeing some of those comments about this whole production, and while I don’t have a lot of room to talk when it comes to football this year in terms of my team being as great as they have been historically for a long time, it’s the cherry on top knowing what a crap show it’s turned out to be having Bill Belichick coach the Chapel Hill football team too.

I hope they have the time of their live a the Spring commencement…The post “Jordan Hudson Has More Affiliation” – App State Fans Roast UNC For Selecting Eric Church As Their 2026 Commencement Speaker first appeared on Whiskey Riff.