‘I Love My Country’: Crowd Erupts Into ‘USA’ Chant After Jason Aldean Doubles Down on His Song

By
David Rufful
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Jason Aldean performs his song 'Try That In A Small Town' | via Jason Aldean Music
OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.

Country music star Jason Aldean has remained strong in the face of left-wing outrage over his “Try That In A Small Town.”

Liberal magazine Rolling Stone called the song “racist” and “violent” for opposing the destructive “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) protests that caused at least $2 billion in paid insurance claims — the largest in U.S. history. Country Music Television (CMT) caved to pressure and removed Aldean’s song from circulation.

During a concert in Cincinnati, Ohio, Aldean spoke to a sold-out crowd, saying, “I gotta tell you guys. It’s been a long-a** week. It’s been a long week and I’ve seen a lot of stuff, I’ve seen a lot of stuff suggesting I’m this, suggesting I’m that.”

“I feel like everybody’s entitled to their opinion,” he explained. “You can think something all you want to; that doesn’t mean it’s true, right? What I am is a proud American. I’m proud to be from here.”

“I love our country. I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bulls*** started happening to it,” he added. “I love my country, I love my family, and I will do anything to protect that, I can tell you that right now,” he said.

In the music video, Aldean sing as news media companies provide coverage of the violent 2020 BLM riots. Aldean references the liberal protesters by singing about they assault police officers and stomp on the American flag.

The premise of the song is that this violence would never occur in a small town where Americans are more likely to defend themselves and their private property. In a feat of mental gymnastics, left-wing critics claim the song is “pro-lynching.”

The song was released back in May, but critics didn’t speak out until two months later. The unjustified outrage caused the song to go viral. It suddenly skyrocketed to number one on iTunes.

Aldean has doubled down on his refusal to apologize for the song. At a concert, he told fans, “Somebody asked me, ‘Hey man, do you think you’re going to play this song tonight?’ The answer was simple. The people have spoken and you guys spoke very, very loudly this week,” Aldean said in reference to the song climbing the music charts.

Aldean has expressed his gratitude to fans for their unwavering support. “Thank u guys,” he wrote to social media. “Ready to see u back out there this weekend!”

Aldean’s wife, Brittany, also thanked fans on social media. “What a week,” she captioned the video, adding a red heart emoji and an American flag.

Thanks to the backlash, “Try That In A Small Town” became a nationally trending topic. Aldean’s song climbed from 987,000 to 11.7 million, which is a 999% increase. The video features Aldean’s two children, Navy and Memphis, who attend attending their father’s shows.

On social media, Aldean responded to critics by saying, “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.”

He continued, “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,” Aldean explained. “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,” he concluded.

The lawlessness of BLM riots caused an estimated $2 billion in damages. The Insurance Information Institute (III), which compiles information from property and casualty insurers, estimated that the damage from the protests would cost the insurance industry up to $2 billion in paid claims. However, this does not include the cost of uninsured losses, which could be significant. BLM protests likely caused far greater damages than $2 billion.

Country music artist Jason Aldean is a target of cancel culture, but it doesn’t seem to bother him very much.

At that point, the crowd — apparently spontaneously — began chanting “USA! USA!” while Aldean acknowledged the chant with a pointed finger over the crowd.

Aldean then complained specifically about cancel culture, presumably over his song. (The song was released in May, but the video came out only this month, which sparked the backlash.)

Aldean praised his fans for standing up to those who would silence his voice, one the fans at his concert obviously agreed with.

He added that a number of people had asked whether he planned to continue performing the song in concert, a question to which he said he had a “simple answer:”

“The people have spoken, and you guys spoke very, very loudly this week.”

Neither of the following tweets contains Aldean’s statement in full, but in tandem they capture the whole thing.

Aldean also addressed the controversy surrounding the song on Twitter earlier this week.

“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 tweeted. “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.

Aldean explained why he wrote the song.

“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.”