Country singer Jason Aldean has faced backlash following the release of the music video for his latest single, “Try That in a Small Town.”
Aldean, 46, addressed the criticism he’s faced at his most recent live show.
“It’s been a long week, and I’ve seen a lot of stuff. I’ve seen a lot of stuff suggesting I’m this, suggesting I’m that. Hey, here’s the thing, here’s one thing I feel: I feel everyone’s entitled to their opinion. You can think of something all you want to, it doesn’t mean it’s true–right?” Aldean told the crowd at Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center on Friday.
“What I am is a proud American. I’m proud to be from here. I love our country. I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this [expletive] started happening to us. I love my country, I love my family, and I will do anything to protect that–I can tell you that right now,” he added.
Aldea first released his latest track in May, but it wasn’t until the release of the video on July 14 that the song came under scrutiny.
The music video features Aldean performing in front of Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee—the site of the lynching of 18-year-old Henry Choate in 1927—with footage from protests, looting, and police confrontations.
The song’s lyrics pay tribute to Southern values, noting that small towns are “full of good ol’ boys, raised up right” and “around here, we take care of our own.”
The music video was met with mixed reviews, with critics saying his new video is pro-lynching, while fans agree with its traditional values.
On July 18, Aldean rejected the notion that he was “pro-lynching,” saying such an interpretation “goes too far” and is “dangerous.”
“There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it,” he wrote on Twitter. “Try That In A Small Town, for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief.”
“NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart,” he wrote.
By Jane Nguyen
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