Country singer Travis Tritt offered Jason Aldean valuable perspective on Wednesday about the leftist campaign to silence his new song, “Try That in a Small Town.”
Without explanation, Country Music Television pulled from its airwaves the new music video for the song. Critics of the song, according to Aldean, say it is “pro-lynching,” an accusation Aldean denied.
The outrage centered on two points. First, the video was filmed outside a Tennessee courthouse that was the site where 18-year-old Henry Choate, a black man, was lynched in 1927. Second, the song, according to its critics, glorifies guns. Anti-gun activist Shannon Watts, for example, has celebrated her role in getting CMT to pull Aldean’s music video.
What did Tritt say?
The 60-year-old country singer reminded Aldean on Wednesday that social media does not represent reality, urging him not to cave to pressure from the outrage mob.
“I would also like to remind my friend, @Jason_Aldean that Twitter and social media in general is not a real place. The views shared by many accounts on this platform are not actually representative of the vast majority of the population of this country,” Tritt said.
“Say what you want to say and be who you want to be,” he added. “Damn the social media torpedoes.”
Tritt explained that he “love[s]” Aldean’s song and rejected claims that it promotes violence.
On the contrary, Tritt said he believes the song expresses a view that many Americans hold: that activist violence “would not be tolerated by many people in many places across the USA.”
What is happening now?
While CMT representatives have not said why they yanked the video, the controversy is bringing more attention to Aldean’s song than it probably would have generated otherwise. The song has, in fact, already shot up to #1 on iTunes.
Meanwhile, TackleBox Films, the production company behind the music video, spoke out on Wednesday and explained the location for the shoot was chosen not based on its history, but because it is a “popular filming location outside of Nashville.”
“Any alternative narrative suggesting the music video’s location decision is false,” the company said.
TackleBox Films also clarified that Aldean did not select the location.
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