The controversial music video for country artist Jason Aldean‘s “Try That in a Small Town” has received immense backlash for its racially coded lyrics, its filming location at a lynching site and its inclusion of clips from Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests.
Now, it appears that the latter was “quietly edited” out from the music video, which was first released on July 14, according to The Washington Post, which reports that the video is now “six seconds shorter than when it was uploaded to YouTube.”
The Washington Post reports that “numerous changes” have been made to Aldean’s video since last week, including the removal of clips featured in the final 30 seconds, which show a man gazing into the sun and another man seated in a wheelchair.
The Washington Post‘s report did not include any explanation of the edits, but TMZ reports that TackleBox, the production company behind the video, used a six-second-long clip from FOX 5 Atlanta featuring violence at a BLM rally without being granted permission by FOX. Sources told the outlet that a week ago, FOX approached the production company and requested that the footage be removed from the video in what was deemed a “polite ultimatum.”
The music video was pulled from Country Music Television (CMT) on July 17, just three days after its release. While the network did not share why they pulled the video, the timing coincided with outrage over the filming location of the visual, which was shot at the Maury Country Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, where in 1927, 18-year-old Black man Henry Choate was lynched for being accused of attacking a white women, per People. Additionally, The Washington Post reported that an “infamous race riot” took place in the same city in 1946.
Aldean’s video has caused plenty of uproar in the past week. On last Thursday’s (July 20) episode of The View, co-host Sunny Hostin described Macon, the Tennessee city where Aldean was raised, as “one of the most racist places in this country.” She told her co-hosts she was “not gonna give [Aldean] the benefit of the doubt” when wondering is he was aware of the message he was sending with his video.
Aldean responded to the wide-ranging backlash via Twitter, writing that since the music video’s release, he has been “accused of releasing a pro-lynching song” and “subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests.”
“These references are not only meritless, but dangerous,” he wrote. “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.”
Aldean added that the song “refers to the feeling of a community that [he] had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief.”
Despite the uproar, Aldean’s song occupies the No. 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
Decider has reached out to the TackleBox production company for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.