Americans outside Jason Aldean’s Nashville bar scoff at music video backlash: ‘bunch of sissies’
Jason Aldean's 'Try That In A Small Town' is 'beautiful,' expression of 'artistic freedom,' Americans in Nashville say.
NASHVILLE – Americans on Broadway responded to critics who say country music star Jason Aldean’s song "Try That In A Small Town" and its accompanying video evoke vigilantism and racism.
"I think it's a bunch of sissies making a big deal out of, you know — it's free speech, first of all," Carmen said outside Aldean’s Nashville bar. "Don't think it's a racial thing at all. I think that's the way he feels about our country."
IS JASON ALDEAN'S NEW VIDEO RACIST? WATCH:
WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HERE
But Darren was more open to critics.
"Everybody has different opinions. Everybody's different," he said. "It's a big country."
"I say artistic freedom," Darren added.
Jason Aldean has faced criticism that his song "Try That In A Small Town," promotes racism and vigilantism. The country music star denied those accusations. (Rich Polk/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)
Critics have argued the Aldean song’s message — that big city behavior like stomping the flag or swearing at cops wouldn’t be well received in a small town — and the accompanying riot footage in the video promote race-based violence. Video of Aldean and his band was also shot in front of a Tennessee courthouse where a mob lynched a Black man in 1927.
Aldean disputed the accusations, tweeting that no lyrics in the song reference race and that all the clips were of real news footage. He also pointed out that he was performing at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas in 2017 when a gunman opened fire on the crowd, killing 58 and injuring hundreds.
"It is absolutely overblown," Nancy said. "He's just saying ‘small town values,’ 'we're going to take care of each other.'"
Rose agreed.
"I don't think it had anything to do with race," she said. "The song was just a very basic song about living in a small town, and I don't understand how it was correlated at all with anything else."
Rose doesn't believe "Try That In A Small Town," by Jason Aldean, has anything to do with race. She feels the song is simply about life in a small town. (Teny Sahakian/Fox News Digital)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The video for "Try That In A Small Town" was released Friday and was played heavily on CMT until the network pulled it from rotation earlier this week without explanation. But out of more than a dozen people who spoke to Fox News in Nashville, none saw a problem with the video.
"I thought it's a beautiful song," Carol said. "Everybody's going to take it the way they want."
"Either it's freedom of speech or it's not," Lori said. "One way or the other. We don't get it both ways."
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox