“When the media attacks you, you’re doing something right. @Jason_Aldean has nothing to apologize for,” wrote Mr. DeSantis, retweeting a statement Mr. Aldean wrote in response to the accusations.
‘This One Goes Too Far’
In his Tuesday statement, Mr. Aldean wrote, “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. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous. 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.”“As so many pointed out, I was present at Route 91-where so many lost their lives—and our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy. NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart,” Mr. Aldean wrote.
“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. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences.
Openly Conservative
Mr. Aldean has always identified as conservative but didn’t openly talk about politics in his career until the last presidential election cycle. In an interview with Rolling Stone right after the 2016 elections, the ACM Entertainer of the Year said it was the only year he hadn’t voted, and declined to say if he would have voted for Mr. Trump but spoke to the president’s popularity.“Trump, like the guy or not, he was out there busting his butt on the campaign trail, talking to these people and putting it in laymen’s terms for them, listening to what they had to say. He wasn’t just focusing on the big companies and the big cities. He was digging in to the heartland of America. You saw those people come out in a big way to support that because they want to feel like they have a voice too. He shocked the world with that,” he said at the time, responding to a question about his songs “My Kinda Party” and “Flyover States,” which the magazine called an “anthem for rural and Middle America.”
“The common man is highly underestimated,” Mr. Aldean said.
“When you got kids and you’re kind of seeing the future for them, like what it looks like, it’s pretty scary,” Mr. Aldean told Taste of Country. “So I think for me, just seeing that, and you know, just how everything has been the last couple of years has been pretty wild. A lot of things that I don’t agree with, and sometimes it’s kind of hard for me to sit back and not say anything.”
“If somebody doesn’t listen to my music because of the way I think politically, that to me is kind of crazy, but whatever,” he said. “To me, the bigger issue is we got kids and future generations that, we gotta get this stuff straightened out. It’s kind of like the wild west out there right now. It’s just been kind of crazy. It’s hard to not have an opinion.”
