I only follow gossip about a handful of country music people: Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood and…? Yeah, that’s about it. I don’t mind looking at photos of Luke Bryan, mostly because I’m not paying attention to his personality. So while I know that the name “Jason Aldean” is important in bro-country, I really don’t know much about him. Aldean has an interview in the latest issue of Billboard, and I don’t know what it is with Billboard lately, but this is the second major story with a country music bro where the bro sounds like a total Donald Trump supporter. The first Billboard profile was Blake Shelton’s, but Aldean’s might be worse.
First, some backstory: last November, social media photos began to creep out of various celebrities’ Halloween costumes. Aldean, it seems, had decided to “dress up” as Lil Wayne. Complete with blackface. Because… we can never have too much blackface in 2015, right? Aldean was widely criticized for it when the photos came out, and Billboard asked him about it in their story. Here’s some more backstory: Aldean was caught cheating on his then-wife Jessica Ussery in 2012. Ussery was his high school sweetheart and mother of his two kids. Aldean then married his mistress, American Idol contestant Brittany Kerr, last year. Kerr’s name comes up in this piece. You can read the full Billboard piece here. Some highlights:
On the label “bro country”: “It’s a f—ing ridiculous term. It’s incredibly insulting to me. It’s meant to describe guys whose songs are all about pickup trucks, drinking beer and girls. It’s meant to talk down to us — me, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, all of us. They haven’t bothered to listen to the body of work I’ve recorded over the years. At least take time to do your homework.”
How he ended up dressed up as Lil Wayne: He found the costume in a store and Kerr, a makeup artist, painted his face so he could go unrecognized in public. “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. 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.”
He’s an investor in Jay-Z’s Tidal & against streaming: “This isn’t about me making more money. It’s about wanting to stand up for not only myself but for an entire genre of music and an entire town — Nashville. It’s about the writers, publishers, producers, everybody who’s getting the short end of the stick on this deal.”
[From Billboard]
What world do people live in where they can say “people are so sensitive” when those people are literally upset that an adult white man in the South thinks it’s appropriate to “wear blackface” as a Halloween costume? Say what you will about Julianne Hough, but when she got caught up in the exact same kind of controversy (wearing blackface for Halloween) she had the decency to be ashamed about it and admit that she was ignorant and dumb. Also: “I get that race is a touchy subject, but not everybody is that way.” Race is a touchy subject… for everybody but white country bros whining about political correctness.
Jason Aldean doesn’t see the big deal about dressing up as Lil Wayne in blackface https://t.co/gGyNuZHRGt pic.twitter.com/8zevCitNK8
— SPIN (@SPINmagazine) September 9, 2016
Photos courtesy of Billboard, WENN.
Leave a reply