Country music singer Jason Aldeon is facing an intense wave of backlash after his song, “Try That In A Small Town”, went viral online, prompting many people to accuse him of dog-whistle racism. The song sets footage of Black Lives Matter protests alongside lyrics like: “Try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own.” The song continues: “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, ya think you’re tough.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The BLM protests were a direct reaction to the murder of African-American man George Floyd by a white police officer. The clips in the music video, which also include an attempted convenience store robbery and other apparent crimes, alternate with shots of Aldean and his band performing in the public square of Columbia, Tennessee. To make things worse, the video is shot in front of the Maury County Courthouse, which at times appears to be on fire with images of burning US flags projected onto it. It’s the same building where a mob hanged 18-year-old African-American Henry Choate from the balcony in 1927. Columbia is also the site of an infamous 1946 race riot that nearly resulted in the lynching of future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. Another lyric goes: “Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well that s--- might fly in the city / Good luck.” Country Music Television (CMT) confirmed Tuesday that it had pulled the video from rotation. Social media has been ablaze with the controversy for much of the last week. Democrat state representative for Tenessee, Justin Jones, called the song "heinous", and a "shameful vision of gun extremism and vigilantism". One user said that if Lil Durk, a black American rapper, made a response to Aldean's video called "Try That On The South Side of Chicago", it would likely be denounced as violent. Others shared videos explaining exactly why people are interpreting the song as dog-whistle racism. Aldean has stood by the song, saying: “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.” Needless to say, the people defending him are all the ones you might expect. Top Republicans have jumped to Aldean’s aid, including former president Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis. “Jason Aldean is a fantastic guy who just came out with a great new song. Support Jason all the way. MAGA!!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social account. The conservative influencer Ben Shapiro posted a video to his YouTube channel titled “Jason Aldean REFUSES To Get Cancelled”, in which he discusses the controversy and takes Aldean’s side. Most recently, Aldean has been filmed at a concert over the weekend defending the song further. He said: “What I am is a proud American.” “I love our country. I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bulls*** started happening to us.” “I love my country, I love my family, and I will do anything to protect that. I can tell you that.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Premier League youth footballer-turned-porn star Oliver Spedding has died at the age of 34. The tragedy comes just weeks after Spedding, better known on social media as Damian Oliver, hit headlines for falsely claiming that his wife, adult star Sophie Anderson, was dead. Whilst the circumstances surrounding Spedding’s death have not yet been confirmed, it is largely accepted that, this time, the news is true. On Saturday, Spedding’s former club Croydon FC released a statement, describing him as a “much-loved individual who always gave his utmost effort for the team.” "Oliver will be hugely missed by everyone at the club and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time,” they added. The club also held a minute’s silence ahead of their match against Meridian VP. Friends and ex-colleagues have paid tributes to the former sportsman, while fans have shared their shock at the terrible real-life plot twist. Back in September, Spedding announced that Anderson, 35, had “died unfortunately,” and even provided details of her funeral. In one X/Twitter reply, he insisted that he “hadn’t lied” about the “bad news”, adding that people could pay their respects at a crematorium in Bromley, southeast London, on 12 September. However, the day after the cremation that never was, the former footballer tweeted a lengthy statement, revealing that he had “20 hours in a cell because of the stupid hoax”. He continued: “I cannot say anything more as part of my bail conditions but it was just a silly drunken joke.” He then dropped two bombshells, writing that he and Anderson were having a baby and that they had just got married. “We are unbreakable,” he added. The message was swiftly followed up by a photo showing him standing beside Anderson, apparently during their wedding, which he said took place at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. Anderson who, while all of this was playing out, had been silent on social media, later supported Spedding’s claims by sharing the same wedding photo to her Twitter/X account. Over the subsequent weeks, the two of them posted explicit content of each other – both separately and together – including an X-rated spoof of the film Scream for Halloween. The last time Spedding posted to social media was around 12 November, with Anderson last writing on Twitter/X last week. Her post was about their marriage, which she said she’d “never forget”. Whilst the porn icon has yet to address the “love of her life’s” passing, tributes have been pouring in from admirers. Croydon FC manager Liam Giles shared his devastation at the “heartbreaking news", writing on X/Twitter: "Ollie was a warrior on the pitch and gave 100 per cent every time he represented Croydon FC. "We spoke a couple of weeks ago about him getting back into football. "I hope you find your peace, mate - sleep tight." His apparent desire to return to sport is perhaps unsurprising, given admissions he’s made about his career change in the past. Spedding said he never would have envisaged a career in the adult industry as a kid hanging out in south-east London gangs, but fell into it after escaping an abusive relationship. Speaking on the ‘Anything Goes with James English' podcast last year, the one-time athlete, who played for Crystal Palace academy in his youth, lamented how he “let himself down” at the age of 17 by “going off the rails” He admitted that he ended up in prison after his grandmother died, and could have made more of his other talents, instead of chasing a name for himself in porn. “When I was at Crystal Palace, if I’d have stayed with them, then I could have been earning a lot more playing football. I used to fight as well, maybe that could have gone somewhere,” he said. “I was good at both [of those] things, but being a porn star, I thought that would be just as good. But it’s not as good as people think.” Still, it wasn’t all bad. Spedding met Anderson through the industry, and they set up their own blue movie production company. Acknowledging that he could never have dreamed that “one of the biggest porn stars in the country” would be his “soulmate”, he said Anderson was “the first person that I feel like I've ever had the ultimate connection with – she is like my twin”. “We're so compatible,” he added in his ‘Anything Goes’ interview. anders“I've never had anyone that connects on so many different levels like that.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

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