Country music star Jason Aldean defended himself and his song “Try That in a Small Town” during a concert Friday in Cincinnati, Ohio, amid heavy criticism of the song.
The song was released in mid-May, but this attracted attention and came under scrutiny after a music video began making the rounds on CMT, which is owned and operated by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of CBS News parent Paramount. Critics have described the song as pro-gun and pro-violence, with one person describing it as a “modern day lynch song”.
“I’ve seen a lot of things that suggest that I’m this, that suggest that I’m that,” Aldean told the crowd on Friday. “Hey, here’s the thing, here’s the thing: here’s something I feel. I feel like everybody’s entitled to their opinion. You can think, you can think something all you want, that doesn’t make it true, right? So what I am is a proud American, proud to be from here.”
Videos published on social networks show the crowd erupting into “USA” chants after Aldean said he loved America and his family and would do anything to protect them. He said he wants the country “to be restored to what it was before all this bulls**t started happening to us.”
Aldean also criticized the “cancellation culture” and it was clear that a “lot of country music fans” could see what was going on.
The singer said that before the concert, many people asked him if he would play “Try That in a Small Town.”
“I know a lot of you grew up like me,” Aldean told the crowd. “You have the same values, the same principles that I do, which is that we want to take our kids to a movie and not worry about some a-hole walking into the theater. So somebody asked me, ‘Hey man, do you think you’re going to play this song tonight?’ The answer was simple. The people have spoken and you have spoken very, very loudly this week.”
Aldean previously defended the song in a tuesday tweet.
“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 BLM protests nationwide,” he tweeted Tuesday. “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 take on a song with music — this one goes too far.”
He also reminded people that he was present during a mass shooting in the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival in Las Vegas in 2017. Aldean said that no one, including himself, “wants to keep seeing senseless headlines or families torn apart.”
He said the song is about “the sense of community I had growing up, where we looked out for our neighbors, regardless of differences in background or beliefs.”
The controversy surrounding “Try That in a Small Town” isn’t the first Aldean has dealt with during his career. In 2015 he made news of with black face put on makeup and dress up as rapper Lil Wayne for a Halloween costume.
Aliza Chasan
