A defiant Jason Aldean addressed the backlash against his latest single “Try That in a Small Town” and pledged to continue performing the controversial track live during his Friday night concert in Cincinnati.
“I gotta tell you guys, it’s been a long-ass week,” Aldean told the crowd at the Riverbend Music Center. “It’s been a long week and I seen a lot of stuff, I 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 something all you want to, it doesn’t mean it’s true.”
Aldean continued, “What I am is a proud American… I love our country, I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bullshit started happening to us. I love my country, I love my family, and I will do anything to protect that, I’ll tell you right now.” Chants of “U.S.A.” then erupted from Aldean’s supportive fanbase. (Friday marked Aldean’s first time discussing the controversy publicly, as his Thursday concert in Cleveland was canceled due to weather.)
The backlash against “Try That in a Small Town” began earlier this week when Aldean dropped the new video for the months-old song, with the visual featuring the country singer performing in front of a courthouse — reportedly in Columbia, Tennessee, the site of a 1933 lynching — and interspersed with footage (including some from Canada) depicting protests as violent and lawless. (Aldean subsequently denied that the song was “pro-lynching.”)
Country music cable network CMT swiftly pulled the music video from its rotation, and some of Aldean’s peers condemned the singer who is no stranger to controversy.
“Here’s what I want to say: A lot of things out there, one thing I love, you guys know how it is, cancel culture is a thing, it’s something where if people don’t like what you say, they try and make sure they can cancel you, which means try to ruin your life, ruin everything,” Aldean said Friday. “One thing I saw this week was a bunch of country music fans that can see through a lot of the bullshit, alright? I saw country music fans rally like I never seen before, and that was pretty badass, I gotta say. Thank you guys so much.”
Just as quickly as “Try That in a Small Town” was “cancelled,” the single has been propped up by the right-wing as an anthem in the ongoing culture wars. With that support behind him, Aldean promised fans Friday that he’ll continue performing the single, including right after his speech in Cincinnati.
“I’ve had people ask me, ‘Man, everything’s going on with the song, you gonna play it tonight? You think you’re not gonna play it?’ And I said, y’know, people who come to my shows, you know what I’m about, you know what I stand for, I’ve never shied away from that at all,” Aldean said Friday.
“And I know a lot of guys grew up the way I did, have a lot of the same values, same principles that I have, which is we wanna take our kids to a movie and not worry about some asshole coming in there shooting up the theater. So when somebody asks me, ‘Hey, you think you’re gonna play the song tonight?’ The answer was simple: The people have spoken, and you guys spoke very, very loud this week.”