Jason Aldean's "Try That In A Small Town" music video was edited over the week, briefly causing a stir among conservatives who supported the song after it was canceled by Country Music Television.
The edit was discussed on social media beginning Wednesday night when users noticed that the song's music video had been edited to remove footage of the Black Lives Matter riots from 2020. The original video contained approximately six seconds of riot footage from Fox 5 Atlanta but now just shows Aldean singing.
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As of Thursday afternoon, Aldean had not acknowledged the edit made to his music video on social media.
BREAKING: Jason Aldean edits video to remove Antifa-BLM scenes
— Jack Poso ???????? (@JackPosobiec) July 27, 2023
I refuse to believe Jason Aldean deleted the BLM footage from his music video. Must be more to the story. No way he would bend the knee to the BLM golden calf.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 27, 2023
It was reported Thursday morning that Fox 5 had contacted the production company of the song and asked it to remove the footage to avoid any legal action.
Stop this. Jason Aldean didn’t bend any knee. Fox 5 Atlanta claimed inclusion of their footage violated their copyright. From a two-second online search: “the video footage was edited due to third-party copyright clearance issues.” https://t.co/fijrzaSmqz
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) July 27, 2023
It wasn't Jason Aldean who bent the knee. https://t.co/C6SjnhT1k4
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) July 27, 2023
Before that report, many social media users claimed Aldean had caved under pressure "to the woke mob."
Jason Aldean quietly edited out the BLM rioters from his “controversial” music video.
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) July 26, 2023
Very disappointing to see him cave to the woke mob.
Dang Jason aldean folded. Why do people always fold?
— CCG BRYSON (@RealBrysonGray) July 26, 2023
Jason Aldean caved under pressure and removed all the Black Lives Matter footage from his music video despite receiving an outpouring of support from conservatives. So much for that. There are no more heroes.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 27, 2023
Gotta have it both ways by pretending to be based for that cash,… pic.twitter.com/8yw3oObc8F
Discussion on the song's edit comes after it was removed from CMT's circulation on July 17, giving the song, which had been out since May, newfound popularity. Footage of the song's music video included a U.S. flag burning, someone holding a Molotov cocktail, and people breaking into jewelry displays.
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Since its censorship, the song's on-demand audio and video streams have increased drastically, going from 987,000 to 11.7 million the week it was removed from CMT, according to statistics from Luminate. The song's sales have also drastically increased, going from selling just 1,000 a week prior to its censorship to 228,000 the week after, according to a report.
Aldean has also received support from many notable conservatives, including Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and Donald Trump Jr.