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Jason Aldean is defending wearing blackface after his infamous Halloween controversy. In a new interview, the country superstar complains that people are “so sensitive.”
Last year, Aldean decided to impersonate Lil Wayne for Halloween. A photo of his “costume” circulated on social media, showing the performer in blackface. Though he was slammed at the time, Aldean didn’t speak out on the scandal.
Now nearly a year later, Aldean is talking about it publicly for the first time in a new interview with Billboard, which claims the singer’s wife Brittany Kerr “painted his face so he could go unrecognized in public.” He tells the magazine, “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,” Aldean goes on, adding, “If that was disrespectful to anyone, I by all means apologize. That was never my intention. It never crossed my mind.”
It could be argued that the fact that it “never crossed” Aldean’s mind that blackface would be offensive is not an issue of sensitivity, but his own ignorance. It’s also worth noting that in the same interview, while the star defends what many see as a racist act, he complains that it’s “insulting” his music is labeled “bro country.” Aldean says, “It’s a f*cking ridiculous term.”
“It’s meant to talk down to us,” he tells Billboard. And in discussing the title track of his new album, They Don’t Know, Aldean further says, “Don’t talk down about things you’ve never experienced. I’ve traveled the world, and you go to a place like Los Angeles and people assume you just sit around on a hay bale and live in a trailer. Whenever the South is portrayed in a movie, it’s seldom flattering.” Gossip Cop suspects many would say blackface isn’t flattering, either.
