During a recent concert in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jason Aldean defended his controversial song ‘Try That in a Small Town.’
In May, the the country music superstar’s track was released, yet the music video was removed from the CMT channel last week after the public backlash from viewers who considered the imagery as pro-violence or pro-lynching.
Before performing the song on Friday (7.21) at the Riverbend Music Center, Aldean addressed the controversy and stood by his song, stating:
“I feel everybody’s entitled to their opinion. You can think something all you want to, it doesn’t mean it’s true. What I am is a proud American.” “I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bulls**t started happening to us. I love my country, I love my family and I will do anything to protect that.”
The musician called out “cancel culture” and those who try to “ruin your life” and praised his country music fans for seeing through the backlash, adding:
“I saw country music fans rally like I’ve never seen before and it was pretty bada*s to watch, I gotta say. Thank you guys so much.” “I know a lot of you guys grew up like I did. You kind of have the same values, the same principles that I have, which is we want to take our kids to a movie and not worry about some a*shole coming in there shooting up the theatre.” “So somebody asked me, ‘Hey man, you think you’re going to play this song tonight?’ The answer was simple. The people have spoken and you guys spoke very, very loudly this week.”
Aldean subsequently launched into the song, that features the lyrics, “Got a gun that my granddad gave me, they say one day they’re gonna round up, well, that s**t might fly in the city, good luck.”
The music video in question featured Aldean performing in front of a courthouse where a lynching once took place while visuals of social unrest were projected onto the building.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: Gage Skidmore