Update your playlists accordingly: Jason Aldean is canceled. Following howls of online outrage, CMT has pulled Aldean’s latest video from rotation. The song, “Try That in a Small Town,” was released in May, but the video dropped just days ago. It features Aldean singing in a small-town square at night, American flags in the background, news footage of riots, looting, and violent crime projected onto the county courthouse behind him. A sample lyric:
“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.”
To a legion of outraged urban critics, Aldean’s song promotes lynching. That’s a heavy charge, but the mob has its evidence: The video was filmed in front of the Maury County courthouse, where a real lynching did take place in 1927. Surely, this is a racist dog whistle! Surely, the choice of location signals Aldean’s longing to return to one of America’s darker chapters when summary justice was dispensed in the streets!
Or – bear with me – maybe Maury County is part of Greater Nashville, and for a video-production crew, it is a short drive from Music Row to a set that offers an authentic small-town aesthetic. You know the left, though. They’ll never attribute to practicality what they are oh-so-certain is better explained by bigotry.
Why Now?
I’m not the first to point out that Aldean’s new single
