Glee is a show about teenagers expressing themselves through Greatest Hits compilations. Kings of Leon is a raucous rock band that sings fun songs about velvet snow, sex that catches on fire, and other things that don't necessarily make sense. The two brands just aren't compatible, which might help explain why the band passed on licensing its songs to the show back in August. It's five months later, but Glee creator (and Eat, Pray, Love perpetrator) Ryan Murphy is still seething over the snub.

"Fuck you, Kings of Leon," fumed Murphy in Tuesday's edition of The Hollywood Reporter. "They're self-centered assholes, and they missed the big picture. They missed that a 7-year-old kid can see someone close to their age singing a Kings of Leon song, which will maybe make them want to join a glee club or pick up a musical instrument. It's like, OK, hate on arts education. You can make fun of Glee all you want, but at its heart, what we really do is turn kids on to music.”

Get that guys? You're mean because you're not encouraging hypothetical children to take up the glockenspiel, and you're stupid because you don't understand "the big picture." That's the most important picture! (Also, the fact someone considers Glee appropriate for 7-year-olds.)

Singer Caleb Followill initially tried to play peacemaker, saying the decision "was never meant as a slap in the face to Glee or to music education or to fans of the show." Less conciliatory was drummer Nathan Followill, who this afternoon posted a (since deleted) message to his Twitter account advising Murphy to "see a therapist, get a manicure, buy a new bra."

Never one to take it after dishing it out, Murphy fired back with a statement of his own to gossip blogger Perez Hilton accusing Kings of Leon of basically being the most homophobic alt-country band in the land.

Just read Nathan Followill's Tweet…in which he implied I should ‘get a manicure and buy a bra.’ Wow. That's a homophobe badly in need of some education. I'm all for manicures, don't wear a bra. Would guess most gay dudes don't. But it's telling that Nathan can reduce a group of people to a mean-spirited cliché, in a time where young gay men are killing themselves all over the country because of hatred like this.

That said, I would love to sit down with Nathan or any member of Kings and Leon, and tell them how on Glee we actually love their music, and support their artistry…but cannot condone or even laugh at their clear disdain of gay people.

Or they could just watch the show. It's basically the same message, but with more Cyndi Lauper songs.

Followill, for his part, has already apologized for being mean to the man who called him a "self-centered asshole" for no reason in an interview with a national publication.

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Ray Gustini