This didn’t go over well.
Last night, ABC aired a CMA Fest concert special, which featured previously recorded performances from June 10th at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium by some of the biggest artists in mainstream country, including Eric Church, Lainey Wilson, Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert and plenty more.
And Jason Aldean also took the stage to sing his new single, “Try That In A Small Town,” which has become the hottest topic in America right now.
In case you somehow missed the controversy, the song was released back in May, but the release of the music video has prompted a massive backlash that even resulted in CMT removing it from the their rotation.
Many online have accused the outspoken country singer of featuring racist lyrics and imagery in both the song and video, while others called the song a “pro-gun anthem” coming from the headliner of the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Of course, Aldean was on stage when the massacre broke out in Las Vegas in 2017.
Jason even released his own statement defending the song, and earlier today, former United States President Donald Trump weighed in, saying on his social media platform Truth Social that he “support(s) Jason all the way.”
And now, it’s also set off a firestorm on Twitter with many very unhappy that ABC still aired Jason’s performance last night:
Not Jason Aldean. A disgrace to country music. #CMAFest pic.twitter.com/HaCQX34PDc
— jada (@houseofwarwick) July 20, 2023
@CMT you still included that white supremacist @Jason_Aldean in the CMAFest broadcast? He barely got the intro played, once I identified it was, in fact, the lynching song I turned it off
— MsWanderLusting🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️☮️☮️🌲🏔️⛰️🌲🌏🌎 (@BrennaninPNW) July 20, 2023
Booo @ABCNetwork @Disney for not cutting Jason Aldean’s performance at CMA Fest… get this racist piece of shit off my tv.
— Emily (Taylor’s Version) (@EmKingg) July 20, 2023
Honestly CMA fest allowing disgusting @Jason_Aldean to still perform is g r o s s.
— nikilynn.🍩 (@NikiLynn14) July 20, 2023
Turning off #CMAFEST because Jason Aldeans song “In a Small Town” should not be playing anywhere. You should be ashamed of yourself @abc
— brit ⚾️🦋 (@britx94) July 20, 2023
Jason Aldean and this awful song make me want to change the channel #CMAFest
— Dan (@bigdan071288) July 20, 2023
And of course, there were plenty people defending him, sharing their support for the fact that his performance was still included in the special:
Cancel culture club scrambling about right now. Tryna cancel ABC and CMA for allowing Jason Aldean to play “Try That In A Small Town”. Wway to go @Jason_Aldean !!#cmafest pic.twitter.com/7MF8WJYPdc
— Keeton626 (@keeton626) July 20, 2023
I’m forever a @Jason_Aldean fan! This song is truth in our country that needs to be heard and if you don’t like it do something to change what you don’t like seeing in his song and video. @SherylCrow #CMAFest @Jason_Aldean ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/C1SfLT86s9
— Monica (@Hill6Mon) July 20, 2023
Ha ha. Jason Aldean just played Try that in a small town on the CMA fest on woke Disney owned abc!!!
— Fusion Natasha (@FusionNatasha) July 20, 2023
Way to go @Jason_Aldean , your CMA Fest performance was right on que… love it you are singing a few blocks away from the CMT Headquarters. 🖕🖕🖕
We love America 🇺🇸— Brandi MacGoldrick (@Brandi7312021) July 20, 2023
ABC and CMA Fest did not share anything of the performance on their social media like they did for other artists, and did not share the performance video to YouTube along with everyone else’s.
“Try That In A Small Town” also reached #1 on the U.S. iTunes all-genre chart a couple days ago, and you can watch the video below.
