Country music star Jason Aldean’s controversial video of his new song “Try That In a Small Town” has reportedly been reedited to remove images of Black Lives Matter protests.
That’s according to reports that have come out over the last 24 hours from multiple media outlets including The Hollywood Reporter and The Guardian. The Washington Post on Tuesday first reported that the video on YouTube was six seconds shorter than the version uploaded on July 14, with a news clip from Fox 5 Atlanta about the 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations having been removed. The outlet also noted that neither Aldean, YouTube, nor the music video production company Tacklebox responded to questions about the video’s edit.
The Epoch Times reached out to Aldean’s representatives for comment.
Aldean Under Attack For His Song’s Video
It was on July 18 after a torrent of criticism from both mainstream media and on social media that Country Music Television (CMT) pulled the song’s video. More than one media outlet editorialized the video, condemning it as “racist” and “pro-gun.”
Those critical of the video also criticized its filming location. It was shot in front of the Maury County courthouse in Colombia, Tennessee, a site known for having been the site of a lynching of a black man, 18-year-old Henry Choate in 1927.
The music video portrays leftist violence and lawlessness and includes real-life scenes of rioters around the country wreaking havoc in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in May of 2020 and incorporated scenes of protesters spitting at and attacking police officers and convenience stores being ransacked.
Its lyrics state those who “carjack an old lady at a red light” or “pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store” or “cuss out a cop spit in his face” and “stomp on the flag and light it up” to “try that in a small town” and “see how far ya make it down the road/ ‘round here, we take care of our own.”
