Jason Aldean has blasted "cancel culture" after his recent single and music video sparked backlash over the past week.
The 46-year-old country singer has been under fire after releasing the song 'Try That in a Small Town,' which features visuals of him performing at a historic lynching site in Tennessee.
Critics have said the controversial tune takes aim at Black Lives Matter protests that sprung up across America following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020 and also contains lyrics that warn those who cause trouble in the narrator’s neighborhood.
Examples of offending actions mentioned in the song include: "Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk / Carjack an old lady at a red light / Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store" before Aldean sings: "Well, try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own."
In the wake of that heavy backlash - which came from social media and fellow artists like Sheryl Crow - the music video has been withdrawn from rotation by the country music channel CMT, according to Billboard and Deadline.
On July 18, Aldean took to Twitter to issue an irate defense of his song, stating: "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."
The singer pointed out that he was present at the 2017 Las Vegas shooting that occurred at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, and said: "Our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy. NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart."
He then explained that the song 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".
"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," he concluded.
Now, the 'Dirt Road Anthem' star has once again addressed the criticism, this time in front of an audience in Cincinnati's Riverbend Center.
Aldean said that it had been a "long a** week" for him before declaring that "everyone is entitled to their opinion" as he spoke of his love and pride for his country.
"I love our country, I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bulls**t started happening to us. I love my country, I love my family and I will do anything to protect that, I can tell you that right now," Aldean said before a thunderous "USA" chant broke out at the concert.
He then addressed cancel culture, adding: "That’s something that if people don’t like what you say they try to make sure they can cancel you, which means try to ruin your life, ruin everything.
"One thing I saw this week was a bunch of country music fans that can see through a lot of the bulls***. I saw country music fans rally like I’ve never seen before and it was pretty badass, I gotta say. Thank you guys so much."
The 'Got What I Got' musician went on to reflect on his fans' values, adding that they want to take their children to movies and not worry about a mass shooting at the theater. He then went ahead to perform 'Try That in a Small Town' in front of a wild crowd.
