Is Jason Aldean's 'Try That in a Small Town' Racist?

Country music star Jason Aldean has been the subject of controversy in recent days for a song that critics claim promotes gun violence and for its video that was filmed at the site of a lynching.

The song, "Try That in a Small Town," drew little negative reaction when it was released in May. That changed with the July 14 release of the video, which resulted in a debate about the song's lyrics and the imagery.

Accusations of the video being racist led to Country Music Television (CMT) pulling it from rotation, which caused backlash from conservatives who defended Aldean as being a victim of—as Republican presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said—"cancel culture."

Perhaps owing at least in part to all the attention, the song catapulted to number one on the U.S. iTunes chart as well as to the top of YouTube's trending music videos category. As the song's popularity grows, the debate continues about whether or not Aldean is promoting racism.

Newsweek reached out to an agent for Aldean via email for comment.

'Yes, It's Racist'

The video of the "Try That In a Small Town" contains images of violence, including vandalization and altercations with police officers, as well as footage of what appears to be protests against racial injustice.

However, much of the racism accusations stem from Aldean appearing in the video with the Maury County Courthouse as his backdrop. The building in Columbia, Tennessee, was the location of race riots in 1946 and the 1927 lynching of an 18-year-old Black man named Henry Choate by a white mob.

Tennessee state Representative Justin Jones, a Democrat, told CNN that he feels the video's setting was "no accident."

He accused the song of normalizing "racist, violence, vigilantism and white nationalism" while "glorifying a South we're trying to move forward from here in Tennessee."

On Thursday's episode of ABC's The View, co-host Whoopi Goldberg explained why she found the video problematic.

"He talks about life in a small town, and it's different, and he chose these images," she said. "He's got folks from the Black Lives Matter movement, and he's talking about people taking care of each other, and I find it so interesting that it never occurred to Jason or the writers that that's what these folks were doing: They were taking care of the people in their town because they didn't like what they saw."

Co-host Sunny Hostin agreed, saying: "My mother and father, because they were an interracial couple, were run out of South Carolina by the KKK. My father is still scarred from that experience....So don't tell me that not only was he aware of what he was doing by using that imagery, he embraces that imagery."

'No, It's Not Racist'

While Aldean was criticized by liberal country musicians such as Jason Isbell and Margo Price, he was defended by conservatives stars like John Rich and Travis Tritt.

Blanco Brown, a Black country artist, also spoke up for Aldean, even if he did take a swipe at the song.

"I hate the words to that song, but I don't believe he's a racist..." Brown tweeted Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump, who is trying to win a second term in the White House in 2024, weighed in on the controversy, though he did not address the racism allegations.

"Jason Aldean is a fantastic guy who just came out with a great new song," Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social. "Support Jason all the way. MAGA!!!"

Defenders of the song, including some people of color, have pointed out that the song's lyrics do not address race.

Conservative commentator C.J. Pearson said on Twitter that Aldean "never mentions Black people," although people may have "assumed" he was talking about Black people in a song about "criminals."

Christina Barr of Black Tea News also criticized people who have tried to characterize "Try That in a Small Town" as racist. She pointed out that there are also white people in the video and that when she thought about the images depicted in the video, she thought about white people involved in Antifa.

Aldean defended himself in a statement he posted Wednesday on Instagram, saying the accusations about him are "not only meritless, but dangerous."

"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," he wrote.

He continued, in part: "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."

Update 7/21/23, 4:02 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.