GOP presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy showed their support for country singer Jason Aldean by playing his banned song at rallies they each held on Thursday.
"You all know I love music," Haley posted on Twitter from a rally on Thursday. "Tonight in Greenville we added a new song to the playlist: Jason Aldean's ‘Try That in a Small Town.’"
The video shows a packed room of Haley supporters with Aldean’s new song, which has prompted an angry response from the left, blaring in the background.
"Nikki Haley grew up in a small, rural town in South Carolina, and will always defend her small-town values — faith, family, and freedom," Haley spokesman Ken Farnaso told Fox News Digital. "It’s where she learned to fight for her beliefs and stand up to bullies, like the liberal bullies trying to cancel this song because it tells the truth about their failed policies."
Haley’s GOP competitor, Vivek Ramaswamy, also played the song at the end of one of his rallies in New Hampshire on Thursday.
In a Twitter post, Ramaswamy said he will play the song at all of his rallies and said the lyrics are about "defending the values that ALL Americans used to share - faith, family, hard work, patriotism."
Fellow GOP candidate Ron DeSantis is also supporitng the song across multiple platforms, including Twitter, where he said that Alden has "nothing to apologize for."
The candidate the three GOP hopefuls are hoping to defeat, former President Donald Trump, said in a Truth Social post that Aldean is a "great guy."
"Support Jason all the way. MAGA!!!" Trump said.
Aldean sparked sparked criticism from liberal activists after releasing a music video for his new song that includes lyrics warning violent criminals, as well as those who disrespect law enforcement and the American flag, to "try that in a small town."
Aldean sings, "Yeah, ya think you're tough? Well, try that in a small town, 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."
One anti-gun activist claimed the song was about how "he and his friends will shoot you if you try to take their guns" and many took issue with the video being filmed at a Tennessee courthouse that was the site of a 1927 lynching and 1946 race riot. Supporters of Aldean, as well as his production company, have pointed out that a wide variety of events have been filmed at that site, including a Hannah Montana movie.
Country Music Television and MTV have since announced they have removed the song from their video rotation.
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Aldean rejected the notion that the tune, which hit airwaves in May, was racially motivated.
"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," Aldean shared with his nearly 8 million fans across social media.
"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."
