Jason Aldean’s ‘Small Town’ video edited to remove Atlanta protest footage
Jasson Aldean performing in July. A music video for a controversial Jason Aldean song that has received both backlash and support has been shortened by a few seconds
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
(CNN) — A music video for a controversial Jason Aldean song that has received both backlash and support has been shortened by a few seconds, removing apparent television footage of a protest in Atlanta, Georgia.
The original video shows Aldean singing “Got a gun that my granddad gave me/They say one day they’re gonna round up/Well, that s–t might fly in the city, good luck/Try that in a small town” before footage from a Fox News station is seen with the chyron reading “State of Emergency Declared In Georgia.”
That footage also appeared in the beginning of the original video just after a Molotov cocktail, as it is known, is lit. The news footage was seen projected onto a building behind Aldean as he sings.
But the current video on YouTube no longer contains either instance of the footage.
It is unclear as to when and why the video was edited, but public outcry over the music video erupted last week.
CNN has reached out to reps for Aldean, his record label and Fox for comment.
While the song was released in May, according to Billboard, the accompanying video wasn’t released until July 14.
Critics say the tune’s lyrics are evocative of vigilantism, racism and “sundown towns” that practice a form of all white segregation in which people of color and others who are considered outsiders know they faced violence if they are not out of an area before the sun goes down.
Some viewers noticed scenes in the video were shot in front of what appears to be the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee. The courthouse has been the site of several incidents of racial violence, including the 1927 lynching of a Black man named Henry Choate. It also served as a backdrop for the Columbia Race Riot in 1946.
CMT pulled the music video from rotation last week.
Aldean has defended the song, tweeting “There isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage.”
The song recently debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Global 200 chart and the music video had more than 19 million views as of Wednesday.
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CNN’s AJ Willingham contributed to this report.
