Jason Aldean Claims ‘Try That in a Small Town’ Music Video Did Not Have ‘Racist Undertones’ Because ‘People of All Color’ Are ‘Doing Stuff’ In It

variety.com:

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jason Aldean is disputing claims that his controversial music video for “Try That in a Small Town” had racist undertones.

The country music star participated in an interview with “CBS Mornings” and was asked by reporter Jan Crawford about his reaction to hearing such accusations from the public, to which Aldean asked, “How?” “You know, it was like a call to arms and small towns,” Crawford said, summarizing the backlash Aldean faced. “It was a threatening kind of video for Black people, I mean, people were putting this on like, TikTok.” “But there was people of all color doing stuff in the video,” Aldean said. “That’s what I don’t understand.

You know, there was white people in there. There was Black people. I mean, this video did not shine light on one specific group and say, that’s the problem.

So anybody that saw that in the video, then you weren’t looking hard enough in the video is all I can tell you.” Aldean created a firestorm in July when he released the video for his song “Try That in a Small Town,” which ended up topping the Billboard Hot 100 amid the backlash.