Photo Credit: CBS / CMT
Jason Aldean returned to CMT with a performance at the 2024 CMT Awards just months after the channel banned ‘Try That In a Small Town’ following backlash.
Jason Aldean appeared at the CMT Music Awards just months after the music video channel pulled his song “Try That In a Small Town” following criticism that the video promoted violence. Though Aldean did not appear at the Moody Center during the CBS live broadcast, he performed “Let Your Boys Be Country” from a stage at the University of Texas Tower.
The lyrics of “Try That In a Small Town,” coupled with images of the nationwide BLM protests in its video, offended many people in its approach and apparent pro-violence stance. As a result of the controversy, CMT pulled the video from its broadcast rotation.
Aldean took to social media to deny accusations that the song and its video were a thinly veiled reference to lynching and “anti-BLM.” The singer wrote, “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 […] While I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music — this one goes too far.”
After CMT pulled the video, Aldean blamed “cancel culture” when addressing the issue on stage during a concert. The music video was later edited to remove the clips from BLM protests.
“You guys know how it is, in this day and age, cancel culture is a thing,” said Aldean. “That’s something that if people don’t like what you say, they try to make sure they can cancel you, which means try to ruin your life, ruin everything.”
He then thanked his fans for supporting him despite the controversy. “I saw country music fans rally like I’ve never seen before […] I gotta say, thank you guys so much.”
The 2024 CMT Music Awards were broadcast live on CBS from Austin’s Moody Center on Sunday, April 7.
