Country singer Jason Aldean defended his controversial song “Try That in a Small Town” following backlash.
In an interview with CBS Mornings on Wednesday, Aldean, 46, spoke about the controversy for the first time in a network news interview and addressed the accusation the music video, released in July, had “racial undertones” and was ”pro lynching” in reference to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in 2020.
“There was people of all color doing stuff in the video. That’s what I don’t understand,” he explained.
Aldean continued:
“There was white people in there. There was black people. I mean, this video did not shine light on one specific group and say, ‘That’s the problem.’ And anybody that saw that in the video, then you weren’t looking hard enough in the video, is all I can tell you.”
Additionally, the country crooner said he didn’t expect for the song “to get the kind of heat that it got.”
“I think that was more because of the video more so than the actual song,” he added.
Aldean also addressed the location of where the music video was filmed. He claimed he was unaware that the video’s location at the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, was where a black teenager was lynched in 1927, according to CBS News.
In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song 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. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous.…
— Jason Aldean (@Jason_Aldean) July 18, 2023
“But I also don’t go back a hundred years and check on the history of a place before we go shoot it either. It’s also the place that I go get my car tags every year. It’s my county that I live in,” he explained.
This came after Country Music Television (CMT) decided to pull the music video for the song from the air, according to The Hill.
Despite the backlash, “Try That in a Small Town” was a success and went to number one on iTunes, according to Fox News.
During the interview, Aldean admitted he had no regrets.
“I would do it over again, every time … minus the setting, knowing what I know now, obviously, you know, knowing that that was gonna be a thing, you know, maybe you look at doing it somewhere else,” he said.
He continued, “I know what the intentions were behind the location, the video, the song, all of it. And, you know, and I stand by all that.”