Jason Aldean Catches Flack For Anti-BLM Rioter Anthem

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Jason Aldean
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Country music star Jason Aldean sparked liberal backlash with his new hit song ‘Try That in a Small Town’, which called out woke activists for behaviors that wouldn’t be accepted in the South.

The song’s music video combines clips of BLM protestors vandalizing cities with lyrics that support traditional values and taking care of our own.

Aldean sets the tone with the opening lyrics: ‘Cuss out a cop, spit in his face. Stomp on the flag and light it up. Yeah, ya think you’re tough? Try that in a small town.’

While some view the song as offensive, others see it as commentary on America’s deep divisions.

Aldean’s latest hit specifically targets woke activists, condemning the BLM protests that followed George Floyd’s death in 2020.

The singer questions why many people were willing to break the law during the riots, suggesting they may not have been raised with proper values.

The lyrics continue, addressing violent behavior: ‘Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk, carjack an old lady at a red light. Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store – ya think it’s cool, well, act a fool.’

The song warns that crossing certain lines in small towns can lead to swift consequences, highlighting the importance of taking care of their own.

One particular line stirred offense among some anti-gun listeners, as Aldean mentions a gun given to him by his grandad.

Given the singer’s connection to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, where numerous lives were lost, some found the lyrics insensitive.

The song ends with a tribute to Southern values, celebrating small town communities and their upstanding citizens.

The song has received mixed reviews, with some deeming it a far-right provocation while others appreciate its traditional values.

Aldean took to Twitter to explain that the song was inspired by the unwritten rule of small towns, where neighbors support and protect each other.

He expresses a desire to restore that sense of community and respect that seems to have been lost.

“When [you] grow up in a small town, it’s that unspoken rule of “we all have each other’s backs and we look out for each other,” he posted on Friday.

“It feels like somewhere along the way, that sense of community and respect has gotten lost. Deep down we are all ready to get back to that. I hope my new music video helps y’all know that u are not alone in feeling that way.”

Fans of Aldean have praised the song, commending its conservative-leaning message.

“Gotta love the absolute meltdown from liberals at a guy singing about wanting safe communities to raise their family and how the government shouldn’t try to take away our constitutional rights,” conservative commentator Greg Price wrote.

“Jason Aldean is right. BLM came to Grayson Kentucky and it was a very tense situation. No one started any fires. No one broke into any stores,” a fan added.

“There was no violence at all, and it was because of the men and women who stood on the roofs of every building on main street with guns. Hundreds of men and women with guns.”

Detractors fumed that Aldean, who was present at the 2017 Mandalay Bay mass shooting at the Route 91 music festival, released a pro-gun song.

“Jason Aldean – who was on-stage during the mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert in 2017 that killed 60 people and wounded over 400 more – has recorded a song called “Try That In A Small Town” about how he and his friends will shoot you if you try to take their guns,” tweeted Shannon Watts.

While reporter Matthew Chapman claimed that the song is a snapshot into conservative values.

“I will say this much: this song absolutely captures everything about the American Right, from the paranoid threats of violence, to the irrational fetishization of communities where everyone acts and thinks the same, to the fact that the singer in fact grew up in a city,” he posted.

While another eagle-eyed Twitter critic pointed out that Aldean filmed the video at a location where a Black man was publicly killed.

“Jason Aldean shot this at the site where a white lynch mob strung Henry Choate up at the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn., after dragging his body through the streets with a car in 1927,” posted Mississippi Free Press editor Ashton Pittman.

“That’s where Aldean chose to sing about murdering people who don’t respect police.”

Aldean addressed the accusations in a Twitter statement on Tuesday.

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,” he wrote.

“These references are not only meritless, but dangerous,” the statement continued. “There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it — and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage — and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music — this one goes too far.”

Aldean said that he was present at Route 91, and in the aftermath, “no one,” which includes him, “wants to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.”

The country crooner stated that the song refers to the “feeling of community” he had growing up in the South, “where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief.”

Aldean noted that he has “never hidden” his political views, and that plenty of Americans “don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy,” but his song is about the “desire” to not see daily news headlines that are so horrible they keep “us up at night.”

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