South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) said she was “shocked” over the backlash country music singer Jason Aldean received over the music video for his new single “Try that in a Small Town.”
“I am shocked by what I’m seeing in this country, with people attempting to cancel the song and cancel Jason and his beliefs,” she said in a video posted to Twitter. “And him and Brittany [Aldean] are outspoken about their love for law and order and for their love of this country and I’m just grateful for them.”
“I think a lot of times people that go out and fight every day on these important issues and have an opinion and remember the freedom and liberty that this country was founded on, get persecuted from it. And we’re seeing that with the Aldeans right now and the songwriters that worked so hard on this,” she continued. “And I just want them to know that we support them. We love them. Thank you for writing a song that America can get behind.”
Noem said she praised the song’s release when it came out in May, saying she wished the music video was filmed in South Dakota. She added that Aldean could come to play in South Dakota any time and invited him to play on the governor’s residence front lawn.
Aldean has been heavily criticized in recent days over the release of the music video for his latest single. It was filmed in front of a courthouse in Columbia, Tenn., where a Black man was lynched in the 1920s. The video also includes images of protests and demonstrations that took place during the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
Aldean took to Twitter to defend himself and his song Tuesday, saying allegations that he released a “pro-lynching song” 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 — and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music — this one goes too far,” he said.
A Country Music Television spokesperson confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday that it pulled the song’s music video, but did not offer a reason for doing so.