ABC Airs Jason Aldean’s CMA Music Festival Performance of ‘Try That In a Small Town’ Amid Music Video Backlash

Despite the controversy surrounding Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town,’ it didn’t prevent ABC from airing his song performance at the CMA Music Festival.

The festival took place between June 8th and 11th at multiple venues across Nashville, though it wasn’t until Wednesday night that it was broadcast on ABC. While the broadcast didn’t show any part of the ‘Try That in a Small Town’ music video (which was only released less than a week ago), it did have Aldean and his band on stage performing the number before a sizable crowd.

The song became a magnet of controversy recently as critics claimed it held threatening undertones. The music video was especially criticized, not only because it featured footage of anti-police protests, riots, and lawlessness throughout America but also because it showed Aldean performing the song in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee. The courthouse was the site of an infamous lynching of a Black teenager years ago, so between this and every other controversial element of the music video, the video was pulled off of CMT’s rotation.

Aldean has spoken out on the controversy, denying that the song and video are “pro-lynching” and saying it was meant to hold the message that close-knit community members look out for one another. TackleBox, the production company behind the music video, spoke to Fox News and said that Aldean didn’t choose the filming location, plus they asserted that the courthouse had been featured in plenty of other productions before.

Even with all the uproar, ‘Try That in a Small Town’ has been doing well so far since it’s currently at the top of iTunes, and New York Post reports it was trending on YouTube.

Watch above via ABC.

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