Margo Price Calls Out Jason Aldean for 2015 Blackface Photo

Margo Price has joined the conversation surrounding Jason Aldean’s controversial “Try That in a Small Town” video.

The “Hands of Time” singer took to Twitter on Wednesday (July 19) to share a photo and a corresponding The Guardian story from 2015, in which Aldean is seen posing among a group of friends at a costume party dressed as Lil Wayne (confirmed by the publication), wearing blackface and dreadlocks. “Just popping on here to say Jason Aldean is a clown,” she wrote of the culturally offensive act. “What else do y’all expect from a man who wore black face in 2015?”

See Price’s post here.

Billboard spoke to Aldean of the blackface photo at the time. “In this day and age people are so sensitive that no matter what you do, somebody is going to make a big deal out of it,” he responded. “Me doing that had zero malicious intent … I get that race is a touchy subject, but not everybody is that way. Media tends to make a big deal out of things. If that was disrespectful to anyone, I by all means apologize. That was never my intention. It never crossed my mind.”

On Tuesday (July 18), the country singer responded to recent claims that “Try That in a Small Town” is pro-gun, pro-violence and a “modern lynching song.” The song challenges those who “pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store” or “cuss out a cop” to, as the title suggests, try those actions in a small town and “see how far ya make it down the road.” The song’s video features footage of American flag burning, protesters having confrontations with police, looters breaking a display case and thieves robbing a convenience store.

“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 a comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests,” Jason wrote in his statement. “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.” 

CMT has since pulled the video from its rotation after running it for three days, Billboard confirmed, and Aldean’s wife Brittany came to his defense. On the other hand, stars like Sheryl Crow have joined Price in speaking out against Jason Aldean’s choice to perform and release a song like “Try That in a Small Town.”