Jason Aldean is standing his floor after individuals slammed his newest music video, “Attempt That in a Small City,” for racist and “pro-lynching” connotations.
“‘I’ve seen loads of stuff suggesting I’m this, suggesting I’m that,” he mentioned whereas onstage in Cincinnati, Ohio, Friday evening in a video posted to Twitter.
“Right here’s the factor, I really feel like all people is entitled to their opinion you may assume one thing all you need to, it doesn’t imply it’s true.”
Within the clip, the viewers cheered because the nation star declared himself a “proud American.”
“I like our nation, I need to see it restored to what it as soon as was earlier than all this bulls—t began taking place to us,” he added.
The gang then erupted in a “USA” chant.
Aldean went on to talk about his emotions in direction of the backlash over his music video earlier than taking part in the contentious music for his followers.
The music video, launched final week, options the “Dust Highway Anthem” crooner singing in entrance of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn., with an American flag draped over the entrance of the constructing.
Movies of protesters going up in opposition to cops and burning American flags had been projected onto the constructing as Aldean, 46, belted out the controversial lyrics.
“Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light-weight it up / Yeah, ya assume you’re robust / Nicely, strive that in a small city / See how far ya make it down the highway,” he sang.
Whereas Aldean is the voice of the music, the lyrics had been initially written by Kelley Lovelace, Kurt Allison, Neil Thrasher and Tully Kennedy.
As Web page Six beforehand reported, followers and critics rapidly took to social media to level out a historic reference to the Grammy nominee’s location selection within the music video.
The courthouse that Aldean proudly sang in entrance of was the situation the place an 18-year-old African-American man named Henry Choate was lynched within the Twenties.
Aldean initially spoke out in opposition to the backlash on Tuesday after CMT pulled his music video from their broadcast channel.
“Up to now 24 hours I’ve been accused of releasing a pro-lynching music (a music that has been out since Might) and was topic to the comparability that I (direct quote) was not too happy with the nationwide BLM protests,” he posted on his Twitter account.
“These references will not be solely meritless, however harmful.”
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Aldean additionally defended the lyrics, writing that there’s “not a single lyric within the music that references race or factors to it.”
Regardless of his protection, Selection has labeled the piece as “probably the most contemptible nation music of the last decade” and social media customers have known as out the dad of 4 for promoting violence.
On Thursday, “The View” hosts used their platform to name out Aldean’s questionable music video and lyrics.
“He talks about life in a small city, and it’s completely different, and he selected these photos,” Whoopi Goldberg started.
“He’s bought of us from the Black Lives Matter motion, and he’s speaking about individuals taking good care of one another, and I discover it so attention-grabbing that it by no means occurred to Jason or the writers that that’s what these of us had been doing: They had been taking good care of the individuals of their city as a result of they didn’t like what they noticed.”
Persevering with, she mentioned, “You simply have to comprehend that whenever you make it about Black Lives Matter, individuals type of say, ‘Nicely, are you speaking about black individuals? What are you speaking about right here?’”
Aldean and his spouse, Brittany Aldean, have been beneath fireplace previously for his or her controversial views.
In September 2022, the “Tonight Appears to be like Good On You” artist was dropped by his publicity agency of 17 years after Brittany, 35, made transphobic feedback on Instagram.
On the time, she thanked her dad and mom for “not altering [her] gender” throughout her “tomboy part” as a toddler in a clip posted to her Instagram final August.
“Lmao!! I’m glad they didn’t too, trigger you and I wouldn’t have labored out,” Jason wrote within the remark part on the time.
Although the dialog drew main backlash, the singer got here to his spouse’s protection once more after she known as dad and mom permitting their trans kids to transition “one of many worst evils.”