OAN’s Roy Francis
9:56 AM – Thursday, July 27, 2023
Country singer Jason Aldean was reportedly forced to edit and cut certain parts of the music video for his new song “Try That in a Small Town” due to copyright issues.
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According to TMZ reports, footage of Black Lives Matter rioters rioting in the streets of Atlanta, which was filmed and owned by Fox 5 Atlanta, was removed after Fox had threatened legal action.
Sources reported that the production company behind Aldean’s music video had reached out to Fox in May asking for permission to use the footage in the video. Fox had asked for the specific lyrics of the song, and was provided with a link to the actual song by the production company.
Last week, Fox reportedly reached out to the production company and ask them to cut the footage in question in order to avoid any legal action, the company complied. Sources said that the request was a “polite ultimatum.”
The new version of the video is three minutes and two seconds long while the original version was three minutes and eight seconds. Along with six seconds being cut from the music video, some of the footage was also replaced with Jason Aldean performing the song in front of a courthouse building.
A representative from BBR Music Group, Aldean’s record label, confirmed that the video footage was edited due to third party copyright issues.
The song which was released in May talks about the violence, riots, and chaos in big cities while saying that those actions would not be accepted in small towns because small town people look after one another. When the music video was released, Aldean and the song received major backlash, which also led to CMT pulling the music video from its rotation.
After the music video was released, Aldean took to social media to clarify the meaning behind the song, and to address the backlash.
“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,” he said. “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.”
As of Thursday, the music video has over 20 million views on Youtube, and is the number two trending for music on the site.
The song has also reached number two on Billboard’s global chart, and is the top song on the country chart. Aldean is also ranked as the number three on the Hot 100 Artist chart.
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