ABC Just Aired A Performance Of Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That In A Small Town’ For A Concert Special And Talk About Bad Timing

Jason Aldean has been one of country music’s biggest stars for the past couple decades, but now the spotlight is on him for a not-so-great reason. His recent single “Try That In A Small Town” and the song’s newly released video have come under fire for being allegedly racist and pro-violence. Regardless, a concert performance of the song was just included in last night’s (July 19) CMA Fest concert special on ABC.

The performance was recorded at CMA Fest, which was held at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium from June 8 to 11, so well before the song’s controversial video was released. In light of everything, though, reactions have been mixed.

One Twitter user wrote, “Shame on @ABCNetwork, @CountryMusic, @cmafoundation & @BBRMusicGroup for continuing to promote a Jason Aldean song that clearly glorifies & encourages vigilante justice against outsiders in small towns.” Another said, “Booo @ABCNetwork @Disney for not cutting Jason Aldean’s performance at CMA Fest… get this racist piece of sh*t off my tv.” Somebody else wrote, “Honestly CMA fest allowing disgusting @Jason_Aldean to still perform is g r o s s.”

Then, there were those standing up for Aldean and ABC, like one user who tweeted, “Cancel culture club scrambling about right now. Tryna cancel ABC and CMA for allowing Jason Aldean to play “Try That In A Small Town”. Wway to go @Jason_Aldean !!#cmafest.” Another wrote, “Ha ha. Jason Aldean just played Try that in a small town on the CMA fest on woke Disney owned abc!!!”