Jason Aldean's new music video was filmed at a lynching site. A big country music network pulled it | KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com
Category: News & Politics
Via: jbb • last year • 147 commentsBy: MARIA SHERMAN (KTAB - BigCountryHomepage. com)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Country music star Jason Aldean 's latest music video for "Try That In A Small Town," lasted just one weekend on Country Music Television before the network pulled it in response to an outcry over its setting and lyrics.
In the video, Aldean — who has been awarded country music artist of the decade by the Academy of Country Music — performs in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee. This is the site of the 1946 Columbia race riot and the 1927 mob lynching of an 18-year-old Black teenager named Henry Choate.
Aldean's video, which was released last Friday, has received fervent criticism online, with some claiming the visual is a "dog whistle" and others labeling it "pro-lynching."
Interspersed between performance footage of Aldean are news clips of violent riots and flag burnings. A Fox News chyron reads: "State of emergency declared in Georgia."
"Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, ya think you're tough," Aldean, who is from Macon, Georgia, sings. "Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they're gonna round up / Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck / Try that in a small town."
"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," Aldean wrote in a tweet posted Tuesday.
The production company behind the video, Tacklebox, said in a statement Wednesday that it picked a "popular filming location outside of Nashville" that had been used on numerous productions, including holiday films starring Tanya Tucker and one starring Mario Lopez and Jana Kramer.
"Any alternative narrative suggesting the music video's location decision is false," the company said, adding that Aldean did not choose the location.
Aldean has long identified as conservative, and has been a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump. "My political views have never been something I've hidden from," he tweeted Tuesday.
The video and its subsequent removal from CMT quickly blew up into one of the periodic culture war clashes, with several conservative figures speaking out in favor of Aldean — including Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert.
This isn't the first time Aldean has been at the center of controversy. In 2015, he made headlines for dressing as rapper Lil Wayne as a Halloween costume, wearing blackface makeup and a wig with dreadlocks.
In 2017, the country singer was on stage at the Route 91 Festival in Las Vegas during the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Over the years, Aldean has given conflicting statements about his stance on U.S. gun laws, though his music celebrates gun ownership.
"It's too easy to get guns, first and foremost," he told The Associated Press after the Las Vegas shooting. "When you can walk in somewhere and you can get one in 5 minutes, do a background check that takes 5 minutes, like how in-depth is that background check? Those are the issues I have. It's not necessarily the guns themselves or that I don't think people should have guns. I have a lot of them."
"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," Aldean said on Twitter Tuesday. "These references are not only meritless, but dangerous."
A CMT spokesperson did not immediately respond to AP's request for comment.
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This story has been updated to correct the day Aldean tweeted to Tuesday, not Wednesday.
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Not all rural Americans are crimson naped MAGAs!
I can't listen to that whiny goober pop, so I really don't give a shit what music knuckle draggers listen to while having incestuous sex within their families.
That is pretty much a deal breaker, whether it was Aldean or one of his team that chose the site it is unacceptable. They stepped in it.
Lol.
So you agree Chicago, or New York can never be the setting for any production. Where on the planet hasn't been the site of a horrific act, do you think?
It's truly amazing how progressives will grasp at any straw to justify their irrationality but refuse to apply the same standard anywhere else because they know how batshit crazy it is.
is a specific place, unlike say , Tennessee.
They should reshoot the video at another location and without the dozen images of stuff burning that permeates the video. Or they can look racist. Up to them.
n images of stuff burning that permeates the video. Or they can look racist. Up to them.
So burning stuff actually means lynching which makes it racist. That's the chain of thought here?
Do you believe the makers of Hannah Montana sent secret messages about lynching when they filmed the movie at the Courthouse? Are alll the others executives who used it part of a secret cabal to endorse lynching in a way no one ever recognized until progressives needed something to focus their anger on?
What's the cutoff? How much research must every production company do to ensure a crime was never committed in the specific area they want to shoot? How many places in the world that have been settled for more than a few months do you think can pass that test?
I have come to the conclusion that woke thought and TDS has rotted some brains to the point of no return.
Sad but very true.
There were probably not aware of some obscure crime committed a hundred years ago.
Or, they probably were, and did it anyway.
There were probably not aware of some obscure crime committed a hundred years agoI do
Of course, they just picked a convenient production setting used to staging videos movies etc. That's all video directors care about, scenery and cost efficiency.
Of course, if you are conspiracy minded progressive you assume diabolical music production guys sit around googling to find a commonly used production setting that is semi-close to an obscure crime scene from the distant past that could be used to send secret messages to an audience that would surely associate the setting with the crime no one has heard of.
They stepped in it Sean.
Do you agree Chicago is off limits for all productions given its history of racial violence?
For instance, no one can shoot on the south side or they are endorsing the 1919 race riots, right?
I'll agree that you are deflecting. I didn't see Chicago mentioned in the article.
Thanks for my proving my point referenced earlier:
It's an advantage of not being a partisan hack, you argue points based on principles with universal applicability. Try it sometime.
How dare those fucking piece of shit liberals shoot movies in LA, Watts, Rodney King. insensitive bastards.
They're not supposed to have a concert somewhere because something bad happened there nearly a century ago?
I would say this is a new level of ridiculous, [Deleted]
Many movies and video songs were filmed with that building as a background. Who knew that a lynching took place there over a hundred years ago?
I'll bet nobody here did.
One of the leftist think tanks dug it up.
I believe you meant leftist "so called think" tanks.
Yes, I stand corrected!
So why don't you tell us what movies and 'video songs' (LOL!) were filmed with that building in the background and what the plots of the movies were and what are the lyrics to the 'video songs'?
But these are the ones that want the right to fly the flag of a foreign country. Yes, the Confederate flag is a flag of a foreign country since it is the flag of the Confederacy (they formed their own country) which appointed it's own president, Jefferson Davis.
Its people like Aldean that really piss me off. How much hard work has he ever actually done in his life? Are his hands callused from something other than picking a guitar? Why does he think he's so much better than people who don't think like he does?
He gives rednecks a bad name
I have no doubt my husband (age 61) as a heavy duty truck mechanic could work this wimpy asshole into the ground. And he can do it without inciting violence or being racist & homophobic.
I have no doubt either
Exactly.
Carjackers and armed robbers are just as good a group of people as everybody else.....
That isn't what I meant. Don;t pretend you know me.
Well those are the people he criticizes in the song.
He thinks he's superior because he lives in a small town. Well, I do, too, but I don't think I'm superior to anyone else. And people that loot and riot should be prosecuted. He wants to blow their heads off
He lives in Nashville.
I think he believes small-town life is better. Celebrating small-town and rural life is sort of the entire point of country music.
Most small town people could never imagine protesting or rioting. When they want change, they talk to the mayor at the church potluck or the county judge at the golf course.
As such, they identify with the victims of the riots... like the small business owners who lose everything over something they had nothing to do with because they happen to be in the way of a group tantrum.
I don't disagree with that view. If someone decides that police brutality or a banking crisis or whatever has their panties in a wad is sufficient reason to burn my home or business to the ground, I will absolutely use whatever means necessary to dissuade them.
Meh....so what
Your own group mod has advocated several times for the same treatment of those that went into the Capitol on Jan 6, amongst other times.
Where was your whine then?
1/6 are truly deserving of that fate, they're white nationalist traitor scum like their traitor/inciter in chief leader.
The perpetrators of 1/6 I meant to say which includes the former 'president'.
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I concur.
Hope it’s not made of synthetic material as burning would be environmentally irresponsible.
Now if race is what comes to the listeners mind when they hear it, well, that speaks more for the mindset of the listener not the artist.
Exactly. Gotta find that offensive shit so I can be a victim and virtue signaler
That's about it.
They can't complain about the lyrics. There is absolutely no mention of any race, anywhere. That is all implied by their own tendencies.
The imagery used is taken right from the mass media. Notice they weren't outraged about that when it happened.
And, as far as the location, I'm pretty sure there were other music video's, tv and movie scenes shot at this location.
They are just complaining for the sake of complaining.
The current racial, musical whine is about Luke Combs cover of Tracy Chapmans’ Fast Car. A recent Washing Post article was a cheap shot at creating racial controversy.
Tracy Chapman herself said she is happy for Luke Combs' success and "grateful that new fans have found and embraced "Fast Car."
Tracy Chapman, the Black gay female, songwriter is currently #1 on the Billboard Country Songwriters Chart. That is definitely insidious racism in that industry.
I don't listen to any of that phony southern accent/drawl whiny garbage in the first place.
Too bad, Tracy seems to like it.
It’s one of the first songs this phony, southern accent/drawl whiny garbage man remembers listening to with his dad.
And we should care because....
I hadn't heard that. Thanks. He nailed it.
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Why? What is the fiction generated over "Fast Car"? Because Tracy Chapman is black and Luke Bryan isn't? Please tell me they aren't going with that kind stupidity.
It brings the song to a whole new generation of fans as well as fans from another genre of music.
This dude's opinion is so low in my charts it just imploded in a submarine.
I never said you should, I don't give a shit what you do.
And yet here you are.
And so are you.
Unfortunately, “lynching site” describes a lot of places in this country. Since they would often be public places where many people could gather, it’s unsurprising - though sad - that a century later, someone else might film or hold some event in such a place.
Only the writer knows what’s in his heart. To be fair, I don’t think we can judge what isn’t there. Too often, calling something a “dog whistle” is a way of attacking a person without actual evidence. And anyway, the song is arguably problematic for another reason. Thus:
”Got a gun” and “they’re gonna round up,” are in the song. What is the intent of this? Are we saying it’s ok to shoot someone who cusses out a cop or stomps on a flag? Are we talking about vigilante mob justice? Because, you know those things are not ok, right? Neither cussing out a cop nor stomping on a flag are even a crime. Shooting someone is a crime, though.
I get the overall sentiment of “Try that in a small town.” I even agree with it a little until we start casually talking about doing lethal violence to people because we disagree with them.
He's saying attempts to round up people's firearms will not be met with a cooperative spirit.
Ah, interesting.
Not that anyone has ever actually tried to round up guns, mind you, or that anyone ever will.
They're comin' fer yer guns!
Yeah, I think that’s why it threw me. The other stuff he talks about in the song is actually happening, so when he got to the guns, I didn’t make the same connection.
While I do appreciate a little healthy paranoia about government limiting guns, at least they still haven’t come to try to take them.
You’ve got a real feel for accents, do you do any others.
The perennial goal of the left about guns is registration, followed by confiscation.
Kinda like what happened in Australia.
More BS from you, Greg. You should actually research a topic before making false claims. You can own a gun (s) in Australia but like most countries with a bit of intelligence, they do limit the type of guns.
I don’t see evidence supporting that that would really happen. We register all sorts of things without the government confiscating them. And anyway, it’s not simply the 2nd Amendment preventing that. It’s also the 4th, the 5th, and the 14th.
The only reason for a firearm capable of shooting more than three rounds without reloading is to kill lots of people quickly.
Wellll.... it's sort of a sure fire hit with the country music crowd.
The thing is... the vast majority of Democrats and even liberals are actually quite reasonable in person and never wanted to take anybody's guns in the first place. It's just the whackadoodle mob on the extreme who like to stir up shit.
You've obviously never seen a feral hog. I doubt you've even seen video of a feral hog.
How many of the owners of these semiautomatics actually kill people, do you have a percentage?
Three rounds from a hunting rifle.
I have yet to take machine gun fire from a feral hog. Any hunting rifle will put one of those things down.
My earlier statement has been confirmed.
Do you often find them in groups of one?
Or three even.....
Usually, they run in sounders. We have quite a few around here, in fact they broke through one of our neighbor's fences and destroyed much of his back lawn.
I would use a Winchester 308 bolt action myself they make a excellent one for left handers.
So you would get a couple and that might discourage them from getting into your yard again. But if your farming 300+ acres the only thing your doing is pushing them to another area. You have to put a big enough dent in to try to control the population. Really no different than controlling rabbits in the garden.....
I don't have 300 acres so Winchester 308 bolt action is just fine.
Give it up.
The anti gun fetish crowd will never understand the shooting sports.
Never.
Do you often hunt them alone? That's awfully foolish.
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your forgetting what happend during hurricane katrina and its aftermath in some places where they actually DID confiscate guns for public safety around NOLA. there was a big broohaha about that if i remember right .
Don't hunt.
Don’t worry about it.
There are snakes in Florida that can get to 30 feet long and weight 550 pounds, an AR-15 with a big magazine might stop one or might need more firepower.
I don't think any human being has ever been attacked by one of these snakes.
This is another ginned-up "reason" for owning a weapon whose only true reason for existing is to kill lots of people quickly.
Snakes, my ass!
If you want to own a people-killer-firearm, at least you could make an effort to understand why. Snakes and hogs are pretty lame excuses.
Seen from the outside, owning a high-capacity firearm loooks like a puerile need to inflate one's own machism.
Sometimes a firearm is just a firearm.
C'mon, charger... Don't just "like" Drinker's pathetic derail. Give your response.
I should have extended my apologies to Sigmund Freund for that comment.
Gee isn't that what was said everytime a Democrat runs/ran for President such as President Obama?
We were coming for your guns?
Actually, seen from reality, statistics show us that fear of high capacity weapons like the AR platform is just an irrational phobia. A bad case of hoplophobia.
Remind yourself of this post at the next mass shooting.
Be proud.
Keep ignoring the real issues.
Remain obtuse.
Killing people is the subject.
Actually the subject is Jason Aldeans music video but if you were really concerned about deaths caused by guns, you would be talking about handguns and not the evil black rifle.
They should tear that building down.
Tear down a White Nationalist shrine???
What part of my comment did you not understand?
Why not, it can go with all the democrats racists monuments.
I wonder why they left isn’t attacking Disney for shooting Hanna Montana video in front of the lynching building, Disney obviously supports lynching.
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It’s not the only reason. It’s not even the best reason. People are terrible marksmen, especially under duress. That’s why you need more than three rounds. The sad fact is you’re more likely to miss with the first three rounds.
Then, even if you do hit the target, it may not immediately end the threat.
I'm not a hunter, but it seems to me that the prey animal would bolt at the first shot, so rounds 2 and 3 would only serve if the animal was just wounded and needed to be put out of its misery.
Thirty rounds in a deer.....
thank-you for that, Jack
The supposition that an AR platforms only reasonable use is hunting, is ridiculously obtuse.
Of course. But that's what ammosexuals pretend to believe.
No pretend about it.
Only obtuse hoplophobes fail to make that connection.
Wait a sec... You seem to be agreeing that AKs aren't hunting rifles...
Lol …. How so?
I’m waiting with bated breath for this explanation.
are people who are afraid of guns always so vocal about other people owning them?
Not all but many. They don’t owe one so they are duty bound to tell others they shouldn’t either.
And it’s easy to flesh out the liars who love to tell you they’ve been shooting all their lives and would gladly give up gun rights.
If I had a nickel for every one of those. Must be what they teach em to say in college these days.
Prediction:
Jason Aldeans sales will go up. CMT ratings will fall precipitously.
Deal with it overly sensitive people.
Without a doubt. This will be the most popular song of his whole career. That’s what happens every time you tell people they shouldn’t read a book or listen to a song.
I doubt it. There’s a difference between cutting Bud Light out of your life and cutting out beer entirely. If people primarily get their country music through CMT, they’ll likely continue to do so. Also, it wouldn’t surprise me if the network changes its mind in a few days.
Wait for it. I betting they take a big hit.
People are tired of corporate craziness like this and are voting with their time and pocketbooks. People won’t stop listening to Country, they’ll just stop tuning in to CMT.
I thought the Bud Light thing was a ridiculous overreaction. This is far worse in my view. Reaches more people so I suspect the reaction will be tougher. Time will tell
If they were smart they would but who knows in this corporate environment.
I would think that represents a miniscule number......
If that’s the case, then I imagine their ratings won’t be significant one way or the other.
Exactly, who cares what CMT thinks? That's kinda like caring what ESPN thinks.....
MAGA is business.
Taking down a beer. Politicizing music, for God's sake! Selling BS books. Hawking gold. Boosting crypto currencies.
Does anyone imagine that this clown cares about what he's singing? He's raking in a ton of money from gogos who imagine they're contributing to the war effort.
We have become simple people! Our obsession with the faux culture war has us unwilling to engage in a healthy discussions about legitimate issues.
That would be the MAGA who are the 'simple' people. Are you a maga't?
Well said. Righteous indignation, superfolius outrage, and a visceral hatred for the other side devide us.
Damn that Jason.
Sounds like your typical CONServative.
The video has footage from The Summer of Love "mostly peaceful" riots that's why progressives have their panties all twisted. They hate being reminded of the destruction their own cause.
PD&D.
I view it like this, he's singing a song that for some reason he feels will appeal to people and he'll make money on it, that is the bottom line. Now he probably isn't much of a tough guy (if he thinks he is or that small town America are badasses) it's simply another way to sell songs.
Phony patriotism and faux tough guy sell.
Leftists get ready to turn your angst against Disney and Miley Cyrus.
We all know that leftists are fair and equal in their outrage./S
Who knew they’d be trying this in Jason Aldean’s small town?
Another woke overreaction bites the dust.
Down over 60%.
Goodbye CMT.
It's s-o-o-o wonderful! MAGA can destroy any company that shows compassion!
No ideas, but great destructive power!
Lol …. you didn’t even bother to read the link.
Or maybe you did and bought it hook line and sinker
I don’t know why he thought this would be especially validating, but in any event, it’s actually not true . Some of the clips happened in other countries. Some are created stock footage. Some have a context that isn’t relevant to what he is describing.
I wouldn’t say any of that is a big deal, because the stuff he is singing about does happen, so it wasn’t even necessary to use real news footage. Creative people dramatize real events all the time. However, falsely claiming it was all real news footage could damage the credibility of his message.
Also, I don’t know if you’d say he’s from a small town. He was born in Macon, GA - population 157,000, metro area 234,000. Currently, he lives in Nashville, population about 690,000.
On the other hand, Uvalde, TX - population about 15,000 - is a small town. Didn’t help them.
No it didn’t, their police force was particularly inept and cowardly.
Should songwriters and singers be restricted to personal experiences?
Yes, they should be limited to lyrics like “bust a cap in your ass” and “I got my twelve gauge sawed-off, I got my headlights turned off, I'm 'bout to bust some shots off, I'm 'bout to dust some cops off.”
For sure. Those country lyrics are racist, white supremacy, bullshit music that most folks here can’t tolerate. Diversity and inclusion only goes so far and it ain’t as far as white, low life country music.
Much more enlightened is:
If you were woke you could get of to:
Just like male country music includes woman as a prominent theme, so does rap:
And who could forget Jay-Z’s sentiments in “Is That Yo Bitch?”:
No, but part of the defense of the song (not that I care if anyone defends it) is its alleged authenticity. So that observation was more of the “just saying” variety.
Aldeans song streams are up 999%.
Once again the left becomes the best salesman of that which they abhor.
Hilarious!
They really aren't very good at the boycotting and getting results part of their poutrage, are they?
[deleted]
You know what the funniest thing to me is?
Watching what some folks here post about something they didn't have a CLUE they were supposed to be outraged by until the media TOLD them to react a certain way.
All that time whining about something most pf them haven't seen or ever even listened to.
I wonder if it is a tough work-out to invent 'atrocities' to be faux-poutraged about?
It seems to come pretty natural and easy for many of our friends on the left.