Country fans came out in strong support of singer Jason Aldean outside a concert venue in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio on Thursday night, as the singer faces accusations of racism from liberal activists.
“I think [Aldean’s] talking about being an American and loving our country and being free and protecting the community that you grew up in and the people that you love,” one fan told Fox News at a planned Aldean concert that was later rescheduled due to severe weather in the area.
“What I’m actually sick of is the woke left’s canceling of everything. The song is just the next step in that process that’s going on and it’s terrible. It’s changing the country that we lived in,” said another fan who was featured on “Hannity.”
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“The silent majority, in my opinion, is way stronger than the people that are upset with the song,” another concert-goer argued.
For some country music fans, the scandal around Aldean’s song has a simple origin. “Everyone’s sensitive nowadays. Everyone takes everything so personal. It’s just so dumb,” a young fan said.
Aldean’s controversial new song, “Try That in a Small Town,” has sparked backlash for its perceived racist content and was even pulled from Country Music Television (CMT).
Some of Aldean’s fans said that they connected with the song because they also come from a small town.
“We’re all from a small town and we like the song. We didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. We thought it was awesome.”
“I think that people that are all up in arms about [the song] haven’t actually watched the video, they haven’t actually listened to the lyrics. People are projecting. People are projecting what they think into something about a small town. You know what, if you’ve ever lived in a small town, you know we take care of our own. Period.”
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Aldean has repeatedly pushed back on claims that the song has racial undertones or was in any intended to be racist in messages posted to Instagram and Twitter.
“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,” he wrote.
The singer also tweeted Tuesday that attacks against his song as racist were not supported by evidence.
“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,” Aldean shared with his nearly 8 million fans across social media.
“These references are not only meritless, but dangerous.”
Fox News’ Tracy Wright, Kristine Parks and Elizabeth Stanton contributed to this report.
