Lauren Boebert sings praise of Jason Aldean: "Time for CMT to get the Bud Light treatment"
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert has entered the discussion over the controversy surrounding a popular country song.
Colorado's Republican congresswoman recently joined Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in defending pop-country singer and guitarist Jason Aldean, while criticizing what she called censorship over his recent song "Try That in a Small Town."
The music video for Aldean's song was pulled from CMT this week over some of its themes and facts surrounding the video itself. The song was released in May, but according to Billboard, the accompanying video wasn't released until July 14 and had been in heavy rotation through Sunday before it was pulled on Monday.
RELATED: Jason Aldean's music video for controversial song now pulled by CMT
"The iTunes charts have spoken - Jason Aldean's 'Try That In A Small Town' is number one," Boebert tweeted to her 2.6 million followers Wednesday. "Whenever they try and censor us, we only go stronger. Time for CMT to get the Bud Light treatment."
And Tuesday, she tweeted that Aldean, "put everything that is on our minds to music. Everyone needs to listen to this song and just reflect on how far this great nation has fallen -- but realize that WE THE PEOPLE can get it all back and MORE!"
The controversy over "Try That in a Small Town" reached a new level with the recent music video release for the song. Some viewers noticed scenes in the video were shot in front of what appears to be the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee. The courthouse has been the site of several incidents of racial violence, including the 1927 lynching of a Black man named Henry Choate. It also served as a backdrop for the Columbia Race Riot in 1946.
RELATED: Jason Aldean responds to controversy over "Try That in a Small Town"
The song and accompanying video split listeners and watchers sharply between critics and supporters, largely along partisan lines with conservatives hailing the song as brave and "epic" and liberals calling it inciteful and racist.
Aldead responded to critics on his Twitter account 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," he tweeted to his 3.7 million followers. "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."
CMT told CBS News that the video is "no longer in rotation," but did not clarify when the video first aired, how long it was supposed to be in rotation or why it was ultimately taken down. CMT is owned and operated by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of CBS News' parent company Paramount.
This story used reporting from CBS News and The Associated Press.
