CMT drops Aldean's 'Try That in a Small Town', which suggests gun-control supporters want to confiscate firearms

Jason Aldean in Nashville last month (Photo by
Monica Murray, Variety, via Getty Images and Axios)

Country Music Television has stopped airing Jason Aldean's music video for "Try That in a Small Town," which suggests that gun-control supporters want to confiscate firearms, something very few of them advocate. Almost all the media play about it has been about its alleged racism, with hardly any attention to the misleading lyric about guns.

Aldean signs, "Got a gun that my granddad gave me. They say one day they're gonna round up. Well, that s--t might fly in the city, good luck. Try that in a small town. See how far you make it down the road. Around here, we take care of our own. You cross that line, it won't take long for you to find out. I recommend you don't."

A CMT spokesperson confirmed the decision to Adam Tamburin of Axios Nashville, who reports, "Critics say the song strikes a threatening tone while criticizing gun control and protests against police. The video, which was released Friday, splices videos of fires, crimes and burning flags with protest images. Aldean, one of the biggest stars in country music, defended the song on social media Tuesday, saying he's been unfairly accused of releasing 'a pro-lynching song' that was critical of the Black Lives Matter movement." He did not mention the gun-control aspect of the song.

CNN notes that Aldean, an outspoken conservative, "was performing at the Route 91 Music Harvest Festival in Las Vegas in 2017 when a gunman shot repeatedly into the crowd, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more. The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in American history."

Aldean's wife Brittany is a "right-wing influencer," Emily Nussbaum reports for The New Yorker in a long story about Nashville and the country-music industry being divided by politics. When singer Maren Morris called Brittany Aldean 'Insurrection Barbie,' Jason Aldean "encouraged a concert audience to boo Morris’s name. Both sides had sold merch off the clash. The Aldeans hawked Barbie shirts reading 'don’t tread on our kids.' Morris fans could buy a shirt that read 'lunatic country-music person' — Tucker Carlson’s nickname for her — and another bearing the slogan 'you have a seat at this table.' She donated the proceeds to LGBTQ charities."

UPDATE, July 25: Black Lives Matter images in the video have been removed.