Joe Rogan has come to the defense of Jason Aldean after the country singer came under fire for the controversial song 'Try That In A Small Town'.
As previously reported, the song has been the subject of intense scrutiny as the country star sings about behaviors that he believes are common in major cities, but would not be tolerated in small towns.
Alongside the lyrics, the music video featured news footage of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests as well as the majority of the video being shot in front of Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee - which is the site where Henry Choate - a Black teenager - was lynched in 1927.
Following the intense backlash, podcast host Joe Rogan has offered his insight and has lashed out at the critics of the song.
Speaking on Wednesday's episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the host sat down with author Gad Saad and the conversation turned to the much-talked-about song.
Rogan said: "The level of outrage, now I'm not saying that that's the greatest song in the world's ever known, you know. 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."
The podcast host continued: "And we're not even talking about old stuff. 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."
Rogan delved deeper into his meaning behind the "racial aspect," stating: "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, right? Wasn't it?
"It was a lot of like, lost liberal whites who were very angry, who decided to take up this movement and smash things," he went on. "So like, the racial aspect of it, there's nothing racial about the lyrics."
Rogan and his guest agreed that they had "no complaints at all" about the song - though some people disagree.
Sheryl Crow has been vocal about her distaste for the song, as she took to Twitter to write: "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. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting. This is not American or small-town-like. It’s just lame."
Aldean himself responded to the backlash, expressing that the song was to express the sense of "community" that he felt growing up, and wasn't to incite any violence or contain racial references.
Despite him standing firm, it was reported that the music video had been shortened by six seconds, as it appeared that news footage of BLM protests had been removed.
It would seem as though there's no such thing as bad publicity - as the song debuted at number two on Billboard Hot 100.
