Opinion | The author's opinion does not necessarily reflect Sarah Palin's view.
Country music star Jason Aldean set fans ablaze with a pro-America message before his concert in Massachusetts. Aldean has been the center of controversy after left-wing social activists claimed his song “Try That In A Small Town” is “racist,” “violent,” and “pro-lynching.”
Attempts to “cancel” Aldean have backfired as the song skyrocketed to number one on iTunes and fans rushed to his defense. “We thought it was a really cool song,” Aldean explained. “The message that we wanted to get out there has completely gotten overshadowed by all the bulls***.”
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“I was laying in bed last night and I’m thinking to myself, you guys did this better than anybody, right?” he continued. “Because I remember a time, I think it was April of 2013, when the Boston Marathon bombings happened. You guys remember this, right?”
“What I saw when that happened was a whole, not a small town – a big-a** town – come together. No matter of your color, no matter anything. The whole country, and especially Boston, came together to find these two pr*cks who did that, right,” Aldean said. “And any of you guys who would have found those guys before the cops did, I know you guys from Boston, you would have beat the s*** out of the dude. Either one of them,” the country music star said.
This instantly fired up fans at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts.
“And I’ve been trying to say this. This is not about race,” Aldean insisted. “It’s about people getting their s*** together, acting right, acting like you got some common sense… What I meant is exactly what I just told you. We are a country. The greatest one in the world.” (Trending Now: Hunter Biden Star Witness Drops Bombshell Testimony)
@Jason_Aldean references the Boston Marathon bombings in his show in Mansfield MA. Try that in a small town. #damright #country #Boston #mapoli pic.twitter.com/CZbX8BD8h2
— Brian Sullivan (@briansulldog) July 30, 2023
Music magazine Rolling Stone suggested the song is “racist” and “violent” for opposing the destructive “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) protests that caused at least $2 billion in paid insurance claims — the largest in U.S. history. Country Music Television (CMT) caved to pressure and removed Aldean’s song from circulation.
In the music video, Aldean sing as news media companies provide coverage of the violent 2020 BLM riots. Aldean references the liberal protesters by singing about they assault police officers and stomp on the American flag.
The premise of the song is that this violence would never occur in a small town where Americans are more likely to defend themselves and their private property. In a feat of mental gymnastics, left-wing critics claim the song is “pro-lynching.”
The song was released back in May, but critics didn’t speak out until two months later. The unjustified outrage caused the song to go viral. It suddenly skyrocketed to number one on iTunes.
Aldean has doubled down on his refusal to apologize for the song. At a concert, he told fans, “Somebody asked me, ‘Hey man, do you think you’re going to play this song tonight?’ The answer was simple.”
“The people have spoken and you guys spoke very, very loudly this week,” Aldean said in reference to the song climbing the music charts. Aldean has expressed his gratitude to fans for their unwavering support. “Thank u guys,” he wrote to social media. “Ready to see u back out there this weekend!”
The country’s top podcaster, Joe Rogan, discussed the controversy on his show with Canadian psychologist and academic Gad Saad. Rogan said, “People are upset at the country music channel” after CMT removed the video from its rotation.
“I’m not saying that’s the greatest song the world’s ever known, you know?” Rogan continued. “But, the level of outrage coming from people that are upset about that song is so strange when there are hundreds of rap songs out there that are infinitely worse — and also enjoyable. And no, no complaints at all.”
“Misogynistic. Qualifying violence,” Saad responded.
“Yeah — and no complaints at all,” Rogan added.
“We’re not even talking about old stuff,” Rogan clarified. “There’s new stuff too. There’s hip hop. There’s wild rock songs. There’s a lot of wild s***. And to be focusing on that one — and it’s the racial aspect of it.”
“It was crazy because like the real antifa problems that were happening during the BLM, I think it was a lot of white people doing that, wasn’t it?” Rogan asked.
“Oh yeah,” Saad responded.
“It was like, a lot of lost liberal whites who are very angry, who decided to take up this movement and smash things. So, like, the racial aspect of it — there’s nothing racial about the lyrics,” Rogan concluded.
