A prominent gun safety activist on Sunday slammed country music star Jason Aldean over a controversial song that’s described in a published report as an incendiary call for vigilantism against social justice advocates.
Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” features incendiary lyrics accompanied by disturbing imagery, The Daily Beast reports.
“Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that (expletive) might fly in the city, good luck,” Aldean sings.
Kyndall Cunningham writes for The Beast that if “the lyrics weren’t direct enough, the new music video for “Try That in a Small Town” shows Aldean and his band performing in front of a white municipal building with an American flag hanging from it. The rest of the video features footage of looters and rioters, including a Fox News broadcast during the 2020 riots that took place in Aldean’s native Georgia.”
Aldean over the weekend was rushed from the stage after suffering an apparent heat stroke during a performance in Hartford, Connecticut.
Cunningham writes that around “the same time Aldean was making headlines for his near-collapse on stage over the weekend, Twitter and TikTok users began criticizing his latest track for its racist dog whistles and promoting vigilante violence. Many have interpreted the song as pro-lynching.”
Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts called out the country music star for promoting guns, noting Aldean was performing during the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that killed 58 people and wounded more than 400.
“@Jason_Aldean- who was on-stage during the mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert in 2017 that killed 60 people and wounded over 400 more - has recorded a song called ‘Try That In A Small Town’ about how he and his friends will shoot you if you try to take their guns,” Watts tweeted.
Watch the video below or click here.
Jason Aldean - Try That In A Small Town (Official Music Video)www.youtube.com