Rising country star Parker McCollum is defending Jason Aldean and Miranda Lambert in the wake of their respective music controversies.
“Odd that you never see good hearted, intelligent, successful people talking s—t in the comment section,” McCollum, 31, tweeted on Wednesday, July 19, seemingly lending his support to both country icons. “Feel like there’s a reason to that.”
McCollum’s commentary came shortly after he retweeted several messages referring to Aldean, 46, and Lambert, 39, who separately made headlines in recent weeks.
When it came to Aldean’s song “Try That in a Small Town” — which was slammed for its pro-gun lyrics — McCollum offered his followers a different opinion.
“Hilarious to hear the media accuse Jason Aldean of writing a song that ‘promotes violence’ when nearly every rap song for the past 30 years has directly and enthusiastically glorified murder, drug dealing, robbery and every other violent crime, and these people say nothing,” read a tweet initially penned by author Matt Walsh on Tuesday, July 18, which McCollum reposted.
While Aldean initially released his track in May, its new music video dropped on Friday, July 14 — and with it came an onslaught of controversy.
“Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that s–t might fly in the city, good luck,” he sings. “Try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road / You cross that line, it won’t take long / For you to find out, I recommend you don’t / Try that in a small town.”
Some listeners were surprised by the tune due to Aldean’s personal history with mass shootings. He was performing in Las Vegas in 2017 when a gunman opened fire, killing 58 and injuring 546. Sheryl Crow was among many vocal critics of the song’s messaging.
Aldean addressed the backlash in a social media statement on Tuesday. “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. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous,” he wrote, shutting down claims that the lyrics promote racist ideology.
He continued: “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.”
Lambert, for her part, caused a stir on Sunday, July 17, when she stopped her Las Vegas residency concert to scold a few fans for taking selfies during her song “Tin Man.”
“I’m gonna stop right here for a second, I’m sorry. These girls are worried about their selfie and not listening to the song,” she told the audience, according to a TikTok clip shared after the show. “It’s pissing me off a little bit. Sorry, I don’t like it. At all.”
In the video, several concertgoers got up and left after the uncomfortable incident. “Let’s go. Come on. You don’t do that to fans,” one attendee said.
McCollum, however, backed up Lambert’s actions by retweeting a video on Sunday that showed the fans in question using a bright flash and disrupting the crowd with a full-on photo shoot before the “Bluebird” singer called them out.
“To all the ppl coming for her. #MirandaLambert,” the original poster captioned the clip.
The “Hell of a Year” singer later reshared an old video of Lambert bringing a young fan named Remy on stage with her as an example of the singer’s influence. “Do you wanna sing this song with me?” Lambert asked the little girl in the clip. She held Remy’s hand and broke down in tears as they sang together.
Lambert has not publicly commented on the mid-show drama, but a source exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday that “there is a level of respect that is expected” from the audience when Lambert takes the stage.
“She understands fans are there to have fun, but she hopes people focus more on the show and being in the moment than using the opportunity to promote social media,” the insider said, adding, “Miranda is, and always has been, incredibly grateful for her fans and she feels blessed to have such dedicated followers.”
