Jason Aldean has spoken out about the controversy surrounding the music video to his song, “Try That In A Small Town,” which utilizes content from Black Lives Matter protests and includes sensitive lyric content.
“Try That in a Small Town” came under criticism in July, when fans condemned Aldean for profiting off of the civil rights protests that were happening around the country, and for writing lyrics like, “Got a gun that my granddad gave me/They say one day they’re gonna round up/Well, that s— might fly in the city/Good luck.”
The video was eventually taken off of Country Music Television and the scrutinized footage was edited out.
At the time, Aldean deemed the accusations against him and his music “meritless” and “dangerous.”
“In the past 24 hours, I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a along that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests,” Aldean posted on social media.
On Wednesday, Aldean discussed the controversy during a CBS Mornings interview. Host Jan Crawford explained that the music video was seen as “a threatening kind of video for black people,” to which the singer countered that “there were people of all colors doing stuff in the video, that’s what I don’t understand.”
“You know, there were white people in there. There were black people. I mean, this video did not shine on one specific group and say, ‘That’s the problem,'” Aldean continued. “So, and anybody that saw that in the video, then you weren’t looking hard enough in the videos is all I can tell you.”
Despite the backlash, “Try That in a Small Town” became Aldean’s biggest hit in years.
