Jason Aldean Defends Racist, Pro-Gun Song as CMT Yanks Music Video
Digging in the heels of his cowboy boots on Tuesday, country singer Jason Aldean defended his controversial song “Try That in a Small Town” and its accompanying music video from critics who have accused it of promoting gun violence, lashing out at the Black Lives Matter movement, and fetishizing sundown towns.
In a statement posted to social media, Aldean noted, “In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song … and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests.”
He went on to rail against the allegations as “not only meritless, but dangerous,” insisting, “There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it- and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage -and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far.”
Meanwhile, CMT, a broadcast network tailored towards country music, confirmed that it had taken the music video for “Try That in a Small Town” out of its lineup amid the firestorm of criticism. Billboard first reported the network’s move.
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The video also heavily features superimposed footage of protesters demonstrating—conflating, as a writer for Variety put it, “the act of protesting with violent crime. Leading a march and getting in a policeman’s face is on the same level as rioting, or carjacking grandma.”
Other critics took issue with the song’s use of the kind of come-and-get-‘em rhetoric that some pro-gun conservatives favor, with Aldean singing, “Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck.”
The inflammatory lyrics were especially appalling, some argued, since the Grammy-nominated singer was infamously onstage at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas in 2017 when a gunman opened fire on the crowd, 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing 60 concertgoers and injuring more than 400 others.
Aldean referenced the tragedy in his statement. “As so many pointed out,” he continued, “I was present at Route 91 – where so many lost their lives – and our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy,” he said. “NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.” (Aldean is not credited as a writer on “Try That in a Small Town.”)
Instead, he explains, the song is his attempt to evoke “a sense of the community I grew up in, where we cared for our neighbors, regardless of differences in origin or religion. Because they are our neighbors and that is something that transcends all differences.” Aldean went on to say that he never shied away from declaring his conservative views, but maintained that his song was a call for unity, not arms. “I know that many of us in this Country disagree about how we return to a sense of normalcy when we get to at least one day without headlines keeping us up at night,” he said. “But that desire- that’s what this song is about.”