Whoopi Goldberg and her co-hosts on ‘The View‘ have given us their take on Jason Aldean and his viral (for all the wrong reasons) song, “Try That in a Small Town.” Together, they slam the Country singer and call his track “deplorable.”
As we shared earlier this week, Aldean had come under fire after social media called him out over the release of his song and music video, where he seemingly takes shots at Black Lives Matter protestors. The video was released on July 14, and was pulled from rotation on CMT amid accusations of being racist.
On the song, the singer says, “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, ya think you’re tough / Try that in a small town.” He then continued to sing on the chorus, “See how far ya make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own / You cross that line / It won’t take long / For you to find out, I recommend you don’t / Try that in a small town.”
After receiving tons of backlash for the song, Jason Aldean released a statement. He said: “In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was 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. 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 added, “Try That In A Small Town, for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences. My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this Country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to… that’s what this song is about.”
Along with the rest of social media commentating on the situation, Whoopi Goldberg and her co-hosts of ‘The View,’ slammed Aldean. On Thursday (July 20), 67-year-old Goldberg led the conversation and said, “He talks about life in a small town, and it’s different, and he chose these images.”
She added, “He’s got folks from the Black Lives Matter movement, and he’s talking about people taking care of each other, and I find it so interesting that it never occurred to Jason or the writers that that’s what these folks were doing: They were taking care of the people in their town because they didn’t like what they saw.”
The actress and host continued, “You just have to realize that when you make it about Black Lives Matter, people kind of say, ‘Well, are you talking about Black people? What are you talking about here?'”
RELATED: Whoopi Goldberg Reveals What She Said To Barbara Walters Once She Asked About Using The N-Word
Adding on, Sunny Hostin said the “deplorable” song reminded her of the stories she would hear from her parents, who used to live in the Carolinas. She said, “My mother and father, because they were an interracial couple, were run out of South Carolina by the KKK. My father is still scarred from that experience … so don’t tell me that not only was he aware of what he was doing by using that imagery, he embraces that imagery..”
The 54-year-old host added, “Unfortunately, this became the No. 1 song on U.S. iTunes. We have a problem in this country about race, and the biggest problem is we refuse to admit that it exists.”
And while Joy Behar called the song “divisive,” she went on to defend Aldean’s right to express his artistic views. The 80-year-old host said, “I defend his right to this video, because they can’t censor me, they can’t censor him.”
Additionally, Alyssa Farah Griffin agreed that she did not believe that Aldean’s was intentionally trying to “stoke division.”
While commenting on Jason Aldean’s statement, Goldberg continued slamming him and said, “[The backlash goes] too far? You’ve gone too far.”
#Socialites, be sure to check out the post below, then leave us your thoughts in a comment after!
View this post on Instagram
I agree with Jason… It’s about community and respect for each other. I have not seen the video but I understand and agree with the lyrics…. I’m from a small town and we do look out for each other.
where was the injustice and uproar over the lyrics and videos of the other so called music featuring killing, sex and violence in gangster rap ?
leave Jason Aldean alone.