Small Towns Against Hate: Group organizes ‘ball gown’ protest for Hartford Jason Aldean concert
By Rob Polansky and Dylan Fearon
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HARTFORD, Connecticut (WFSB) — Activists protested at this weekend’s Jason Aldean concert in Hartford.
Kamora’s Cultural Corner organized the event for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at the Xfinity Theatre.
It was called “Small Towns Against Hate.”
Organizers encouraged attendees to wear ball gown attire.
“There’s this natural discourse that says small-town America should be scared of big-city America. But these folks don’t know that when we have to venture out into their communities, we are scared because of all these stereotypes out there,” said Kamora Herrington, Organizer, Hartford.
“There’s nothing really racist about the actual song. If we’re taking something that happened in 1937 and we’re going to carry it with us for 100 years, I can guarantee you that they probably didn’t even really know the situation that was going on,” said Joe Ward, Jason Aldean Fan, Bristol.
The concert was rescheduled after Aldean suffered heatstroke during the original Hartford show on July 15.
Aldean made headlines recently for his music video “Try That in a Small Town,” which included footage from Black Lives Matter protests.
Some people said the message in the song insinuated that the protests and riots in large cities wouldn’t fly in small towns. They argued that it glorified lynching, racial tension and violence.
Viewers noted that the music video was shot in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, TN, where an 18-year-old Black man was lynched in 1927.
Aldean defended the song on social media. He said it was about getting back a sense of community.
“When you grow up in a small town, it’s that unspoken rule of ‘we all have each other’s backs and we look out for each other,’” he wrote on Instagram. “It feels like somewhere along the way, that sense of community and respect has gotten lost. Deep down we are all ready to get back to that. I hope my new music video helps y’all know that u are not alone in feeling that way.”
As a result of the controversy, CMT pulled the music video from its rotation.
However, the song continued to make waves on the Billboard charts. This week, it reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It hit number 1 on the Billboard country chart.
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