WASHINGTON — CMT has pulled a music video for a Jason Aldean song as criticism of the lyrics and music video continue to mount, the network confirmed to multiple outlets.
The song, "Try That in a Small Town," was first released in May, but has received an increase in visibility — and criticism — after the accompanying music video was released on July 14.
Before being pulled off the air Monday, the music video was reportedly receiving heavy play on the Country Music Television network. When the song was first released, Aldean promoted it by saying on Twitter that it "summarizes the way a lot of people feel about the world right now."
The music video includes footage from surveillance store security cameras showing robberies and shots from protests against police brutality. Critics claim the song includes lyrics that promote violence and vigilantism. At one point, Aldean sings about the "gun that my granddad gave me" and alludes to gun control measures.
As part of the song Aldean sings:
“Cuss out a cop, spit in his face
Stomp on the flag and light it up
Yeah, ya think you’re tough
Well, try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town.”
Alongside the lyrics, critics pointed out that the music video was shot in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee. The courthouse was the site of the 1927 lynching of Henry Choate, a Black man, and the Columbia Race Riot in 1946, among other incidents of racial violence.
Some have gone as far as likening it to a song about lynching.
On Tuesday, a day after the song was pulled from the air, country singer Sheryl Crow tweeted a rebuke of its message.
"I'm from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence," Crow wrote. "There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting. This is not American or small town-like. It’s just lame.”
Crow was born in Kennett, Missouri, which has a population of around 10,000 people. Aldean was raised in the mid-sized city of Macon, Georgia, which has a population of about 153,000.
She also referenced Aldean's experience at the Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Festival in 2017. While he was performing on stage, a gunman began firing into the crowd from a hotel nearby, killing 58 people.
Aldean took to Twitter Tuesday, doubling down on the song's messaging but denying that it was a call to violence or aimed at any particular race.
"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 wrote. "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."
Aldean is not listed as a writer on the song.