Jason Aldean’s controversial song “Try That in a Small Town” has been slammed by the “View” hosts as “deplorable.”
Thursday’s conversation was led by Whoopi Goldberg, who called out the country singer’s use of imagery in the music video, which showed confrontations between Black Lives Matter protestors and police during the 2020 protests.
“He talks about life in a small town, and it’s different, and he chose these images,” Goldberg, 67, 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.”
The “Sister Act” star added, “You just have to realize that when you make it about Black Lives Matter, people kind of say, ‘Well, are you talking about Black people? What are you talking about here?'”
For Sunny Hostin, the song reminded her of stories she heard from her parents, who used to live in South Carolina.
“My mother and father, because they were an interracial couple, were run out of South Carolina by the KKK,” she explained. “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.”
“Unfortunately, this became the No. 1 song on U.S. iTunes. We have a problem in this country about race, and the biggest problem is we refuse to admit that it exists,” Hostin, 54, continued.
Despite calling the song “divisive,” Joy Behar defended Aldean’s right to artistic expression.
“I defend his right to this video, because they can’t censor me, they can’t censor him,” Behar, 80, said.
Alyssa Farah Griffin also said she didn’t believe the “Dirt Road Anthem” singer was intentionally trying to “stoke division.”
The talk show hosts also addressed Aldean’s statement denying allegations that the music video was “pro-lynching.”
“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,” the country singer tweeted Tuesday.
“These references are not only meritless, but dangerous.”
He continued, “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.”
Goldberg swiftly called out the “Burnin’ It Down” hitmaker once again, saying, “It does go too far? You’ve gone too far.”
Aldean’s contentious music video, which was released on July 14, was pulled from rotation on CMT amid accusations of being racist.
The video shows Aldean performing in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn., where an African-American teenager named Henry Choate was lynched in the 1920s.
Amid the backlash, fans have slammed ABC for airing Aldean’s pre-taped performance of “Try That in a Small Town” during its CMA Fest concert special Wednesday.
The network, however, did not air the music video during the broadcast.
