Jason Aldean defends controversial single denounced as a “modern-day lynch song”, says the backlash is “not only without merit, but dangerous”.

“In the last 24 hours I’ve been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that’s been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) wasn’t too happy with the protests of BLM nationally.” country star Jason Aldean he wrote on Twitter Tuesday afternoon “These references are not only pointless, they’re dangerous. There’s not a single lyric in the song that references or points to race, and there’s not a video clip that isn’t actual news footage, and while I can try to respect others for having their own interpretation of a song. with music, that goes too far.”

Why are music fans protesting Aldean? “Try it in a small town”?

Aldean took to social media on Tuesday to address the controversy surrounding the new video for his politically charged single, “Try That in a Small Town.” The country star, who was a witness worst gun massacre in US history at the 2017 Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas, had already drawn attention for the song’s apparent pro-gun letters, which celebrates “good, well-bred boys” who “take care of their own.” In a tweetShannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, pointed out the hypocrisy of an artist “who was on stage during the mass shooting … that killed 60 people and injured over 400 more” by recording a song “about how he and his friends will shoot. you if you try to take their guns.” In another viral tweetpolice reform activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham noted, “Uvalde? Small town. VA Tech? Small college town. Newtown? Small New England town. A park? Small town that was just voted the city *more safe* Florida. Most mass shootings happen in *small towns*. Your listeners are dying.”

Why has Aldean’s music video only increased the backlash?

Public outrage over “Try That in a Small Town” escalated on July 14, nearly two months after the single’s release, when Aldean released his music video accompanied by statement about the yearning to “return” to a small-town “sense of community and respect” that has been “lost.” Like both of them Mississippi Free Press news editor Ashton Pittman already mordant variety op-ed titled “Jason Aldean already had the most despicable country song of the decade. The video is worse,” noted the Shaun Silva-directed “Try That in a Small Town” video, which intersperses Aldean’s performance in front of a flag Americana with news footage of what appears to be 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, flag burning, looting and police attacks – filmed outside the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn. It was at this site in 1927 that a white lynch mob dragged an 18-year-old black man named Henry Choate behind a car before hanging him for a second. – window of the court of the plant. “That’s where Aldean chose to sing about killing people who don’t respect the police,” Pittman tweeted, juxtaposing an outside courthouse screenshot of Aldean’s video with a newspaper stock photo of Choate’s lynching .

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Raw Story author and reporter Matthew Chapman as well he censured the video, stating that it “captures absolutely everything about the American right, from the paranoid threats of violence, to the irrational fetishization of communities where everyone acts and thinks alike, to the fact that the singer grew up in a city” . (Aldean is from Macon, Ga., which has a population of 153,000.) Others called “Try That in a Small Town” a “modern lynching song”, with faith leader and podcaster Rev. Jacqui Lewis affirming, “There is no non-racialized way to write a song about lynching. “Look how far you go along the way,” invokes a very particular legacy.” So does blogger Leigh Love he tweetedthat the song “not only reminds people of this cities at sunset they exist, but who loves them. Don’t even listen or watch for the sights, but read the scary lyrics. It is as if he had forgotten the insurrection of January 6″.

Did CMT really pull the video from rotation?

The video for “Try That in a Small Town,” which has so far racked up 424,000 views on YouTube, played on country music channel CMT all weekend but was pulled from the cable network on Monday, according to Find out more. billboard i Limit date. On Tuesday, a representative for CMT confirmed to Yahoo Entertainment that “the video is no longer in rotation,” but offered no explanation or reason for the scheduling decision. Representatives for Aldean’s record label, BBR Music Group, did not immediately respond to Yahoo Entertainment’s request for comment.

How is Aldean defending “Try That in a Small Town”?

In response to the growing backlash on Tuesday, Aldean continued to deny that his song and video had racist or pro-gun connotations. “As many have noted, I was present on Route 91 where many lost their lives, and our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy,” he posted on Twitter and Instagram. “No one, including me, wants to keep seeing senseless headlines or families torn apart. ‘Try That in a Small Town,’ for me, is about the sense of community I had growing up, where we looked out for our neighbors , regardless of differences in background or beliefs. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any difference. My political views have never been something I have hidden, and I know many of us in this country have not we agree on how to get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least one day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire to do that, that’s what this song is about.”

Why has Aldean become more politically vocal in recent years?

Although Aldean did not always openly express his conservative political views, he has been increasingly outspoken since 2020. He and his wife, influencer Brittany Aldean, have released statements against Joe Biden, against vaccinations and pro Trump online and they were surprised. to spend New Year’s weekend 2021 with Donald Trump, whom Jason called “the GOAT” and a “class act”. In September 2022, the singer parted ways with his advertising company of 17 years, GreenRoom, after Brittany drew the ire of liberal country stars like Maren Morris and Cassadee Pope with what many considered transphobic comments.

Last year, Aldean told him Taste of Country, “When you have children and you’re seeing the future for them, as it seems, it’s pretty scary. So, I think for me, just seeing that, and you know, how everything has been the last couple of years has been pretty wild. A lot of things I don’t agree with, and sometimes it’s a little hard for me to sit back and say nothing. … For me, there is a bigger picture. If someone doesn’t listen to my music because of the way I think politically, that’s kind of crazy to me, but whatever. To me, the bigger issue is that we have children and future generations that we have to fix these things. It’s like the wild west out there right now. It’s been a little crazy. It’s hard not to have an opinion.”