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Watch: Jason Aldean responds at to the controversy over ‘Try That in a Small Town’

Aaron Walker  |  12:21 AM on July 24, 2023

Lately, we have been devoting a lot of pixels this week to discussing the weird controversy where people walked right past gangsta rap to yell at Jason Aldean for a song suggesting that if you do things like carjacking or burning a flag in a small town, you are likely to get hurt or killed—as if that wasn’t just a true observation, regardless of what you think of the morality of it. We are going to assume at this point you are caught up, but if you aren’t, then go here and here and get caught up.

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Previously, Aldean had an official Twitter response to the controversy, but we found it more interesting when he apparently responded to the controversy live in a concert. We will show you that video in a moment, but first, let’s get to his official Twitter response:

The whole statement says:

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. 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. 

As so many pointed out, I was present at Route 91-where so many lost their lives- and our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy. NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.

Try That In A Small Town, for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences. My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this Country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to- that’s what this song is about.

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There’s nothing wrong with that statement, but you always wonder how much of that is from him and how much is from a PR firm. We get the feeling he would make sure no one says anything he doesn’t approve of, but we’d be much more interested in seeing him speak in a less careful way about it.

And that is what he did at a concert in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Friday (7/21). First, we have this clip of him talking about the controversy…

Now, that first clip cuts off when he doesn’t seem to be done, so we searched around and found another clip. There is some overlap between both, but between then you seem to get his full commentary, before beginning a song:

And Benny Johnson had a little news coverage of the event:

The interesting thing about this is none of these statements really address whether he is playing a role in the song as we suggested from the beginning. As we noted, it is very common for musicians to write fiction and to be understood as writing fiction and there was a very good chance Aldean was doing that—and in any case, he isn’t making a threat so much as a prediction. As we said the other day, we have heard people make similar remarks in small towns and suburbs for years, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the person who wrote that song (which might not even be Aldean) heard the same kinds of conversations.

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In any case, we had some responses, both to the videos and his written statement. For instance, gun grabber Shannon Watts continues to fail to comprehend:

First, again, he is making a prediction of how things would go if you if you do certain things—suggesting at least violence. And while we wouldn’t support all some of the actions he appears to be predicting—you should not respond violently to someone stomping on the flag—but we don’t think his prediction is inaccurate.

Second, what is she on about a ‘legal song judgment period?’ Does she think the song is a crime now? This would be let another example of a gun grabber also having a pinched understanding of the First Amendment.

Indeed, she is very happy to try to silence him, rather than actually address what he is talking about:

And notice that she doesn’t acknowledge that many of the things he is imagining would be legal acts of self-defense and defense of others. For instance, if you pull a gun on a person in any place in America, and someone else shoots, that is almost certainly going to be legal. This is because the gun grabbers are almost always hostile to the right of self-defense and defense and defense of others, too.

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And don’t even let us get into the contradiction of many gun grabbers believing simultaneously that 1) all or most cops are racist and 2) only cops should have guns.

Another leftist who thinks it never occurred to anyone in a small town to use force to stop a carjacker until Aldean sung about it.

Even presuming she is right, she misses that is supports the thesis that there is an element of fiction, here.

We are old enough to remember laughing at how ridiculous it was that the Thermians in Galaxy Quest couldn’t comprehend that the Star-Trek-like show they watched was fictional. It seems less ridiculous, now.

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Also, still assuming she is accurate, is she under the impression that he personally picked out all the footage used in the video?

Yes, G-d forbid a journalist let the plebs make up their own minds about the lyrics by reprinting them. 

And we will hold our breath waiting for her to denounce any gangsta rap song. *Help, we are passing out!!!*

Because booing is not a form of free expression? Indeed, the founders generally believed the best antidote to bad speech was good speech—not to silence people entirely.

Seriously, why would CMT listen to these lunatics? The vast majority of the people upset at him don’t listen to country music anyway.

We’d have to go with Aldean on that one.

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Things would go a lot better if we didn’t project into his words all kind of nonsense.

This next one requires some discernment:

The tweet claims that Hank Williams Jr. resigned from CMT out of protest. But doesn't appear to be true. Apparently the story started at a satire site.

On the other hand, the cartoon is funny.

But that’s another fascinating element. Is this a sign that since then he has been repulsed by the gun grabbers? Or is this just another example of why its reasonable to say this is a persona he adopted for the song?

Does the conversion require any new baptism? Is a mohel involved?

Seriously, were they trying to make this into a hit song?

***

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