Jason Aldean music video taken down amid ‘pro-lynching’ accusations – National | 24CA News
Country star Jason Aldean is dealing with a large wave of backlash towards his track Try That in a Small Town over accusations that its lyrics, and newly launched music video, encourage vigilantism and racial violence.
Country Music Television (CMT) pulled the music video off the air amid the uproar. The video was launched on Friday and had been enjoying on the broadcaster’s rotation by means of the weekend earlier than it was eliminated on Monday, based on Billboard, which was first to report.
CMT declined to touch upon the explanation for the music video’s elimination.
While controversy over Try That in a Small Town had been brewing for the reason that track was launched in May, the backlash reached new heights after Aldean shot the music video for the track in entrance of Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn.
The courthouse was the positioning of the 1927 lynching of a Black man named Henry Chaote, who was dragged behind a automotive by a white mob earlier than he was hanged in a second-storey window. The courthouse additionally served as a backdrop for the 1946 Columbia race riots, when Tennessee Highway Patrol officers stormed a Black neighbourhood within the wake of a controversial court docket case.
In the music video, Aldean carried out his track as news footage of Black Lives Matter protests have been projected on the entrance of the courthouse. Aldean additionally used clips of violent muggings, main some critics to argue that Aldean was conflating protests towards police brutality with violent crime.
One listener known as the tune a “modern lynching song,” whereas different critics argue the lyrics encourage violence towards protesters and gun reformers.
Some of the lyrics are:
“Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, ya think you’re tough.
“Well, try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own / You cross that line, it won’t take long / For you to find out, I recommend you don’t / Try that in a small town.
“Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that s–t might fly in the city, good luck.”
Aldean defended the track, which was written by Kelly Lovelace, Neil Thrasher, Tully Kennedy and Kurt Michael Allison, in a tweet 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. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous,” he writes.
“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.”
Instead, Aldean says the track is about “the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief.” Aldean grew up in Macon, Ga., a mid-size metropolis dwelling to a inhabitants of 150,000.
Some politicians and celebrities have joined in condemning the track, together with Sheryl Crow and Tennessee lawmakers.
Crow tagged Aldean in a Twitter publish, writing: “I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence. There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence… It’s just lame.”
Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones tweeted Tuesday: “As Tennessee lawmakers, we have an obligation to condemn Jason Aldean’s heinous song calling for racist violence. What a shameful vision of gun extremism and vigilantism. We will continue to call for common sense gun laws, that protect ALL our children and communities.”
Some listeners have been puzzled that Aldean would launch a track seemingly glorifying gun violence due to his historical past with mass shootings. The nation star was performing on the Route 91 Music Harvest Festival in Las Vegas in 2017 when a mass taking pictures left 58 folks lifeless and a whole lot injured within the crowd.
Crow referenced the 2017 mass taking pictures when she known as out the nation singer, saying Aldean “should know better” as a survivor of gun violence himself.
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