Legendary multi-platinum rocker Ted Nugent has broken his silence after fellow musician and country star Jason Aldean was attacked over a recent hit song.
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Aldean found himself in a firestorm of controversy after many on the left claimed one of his latest hit songs was somehow racist and inflammatory.
The song, “Try That In A Small Town,” has been criticized with claims it promotes vigilantism and gun violence. The controversy escalated when Country Music Television (CMT) decided to remove the song’s music video from its platform.
The video features real-life footage of violent riots and crime, largely from the ‘summer of riots’ in 2020, combined with the song’s lyrics, and has been widely criticized for its divisive content.
In a Saturday interview, Nugent ripped “idiots” who dislike the song and who have invented reasons to call it “controversial.”
“I know there’s a bunch of idiots out there, but you need to learn to get a kick out of the idiots. The idiots hate this Jason Aldean song because they hate when we push back against violence,” he told Fox News’ Jimmy Failla.
“They always get it 180 degrees wrong. This song is against violence. The song is about self-defense. The song is about protecting your loved ones in your neighborhood. If you find fault with a song that celebrates protecting your loved ones, your neighborhood, you might be going down to Target to the Satan display and get down on your knees,” the legendary, multi-platinum album rocker added.
“These are just weird people. We dismiss them because they’ve gotten out of hand because they’ve got no soul. I laugh in their face,” he noted further.
Fox News reported that Nugent is no stranger to controversy, as he has been involved in disputes with liberals for many years, particularly on topics like Second Amendment rights and freedom of speech. Some have labeled him as an “extremist” due to his outspoken views.
“I’ve always stood up radically – really extremist – for God, family, country, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Ten Commandments, golden rule, work ethic, law and order, all that really radical stuff, and that represents the heart and soul of the best, most passionate, most cocky, most fun people in the world,” the rocker said.
“The reach of social media gets to good people all over the world, and all the good people in the world are saying what the Nugent family says: ‘Go, Jason, go… we salute you, and we stand with you,’” Nugent said.
Despite the backlash, Aldean remained undeterred, and during a concert this week, he directly addressed the crowd with an epic Pro-America rant, and the crowd went absolutely wild.
“Well I gotta tell you guys it’s been a long ass week. It’s been a long week and I’ve seen a lot of stuff suggesting I’m this, suggesting I’m that,” he began. “What I am is a proud American,” he went on as the crowd cheered loudly.
“I love our country and I want to see it restored to what it once was before this bullshit started happening to us. I love my country, I love my family and I’ll do anything to protect that,” he concluded as the crowd roared with approval and began chanting, “USA! USA! USA!”’