A community organization that aligns itself with communist beliefs held a protest Saturday night outside country music singer Jason Aldean’s concert in Tinley Park.
Aldean has received praise and criticism for his chart-topping song “Try That In A Small Town,” with lyrics that warn people not to commit acts of violence, swear at police or burn the American flag in small towns because the retaliation will be harsher than in the city.
Critics say the message that small-town citizens will take matters into their own hands hearkens back to Jim Crow rhetoric.
A group of about 20 gathered outside Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre in Tinley Park as part of a protest led by Revolution Club Chicago, a far-left group that calls for a revolution against capitalism.
“Guess what Jason (Aldean)?,” said Rafael Kadaris from Berkeley, California, who came to Chicago for the protest. “We will try that in a small town. We will try that in a big city. And we will try it right in front of your concert.”
About a dozen police officers surrounded the group as Leo Pargo, one of Revolution Club Chicago’s leaders, struck a lighter and set the flag on fire.
Kadaris said there were no altercations between the protesters and the concertgoers beyond a few people being flipped off.
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The veteran Nashville star’s song became a conservative rallying cry after CMT banned its music video, which was shot at a Tennessee courthouse once used for a lynching, according to a Los Angeles Times report. Fox News and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed support, helping turn the song into a symbol of the left’s supposed cancel-culture overreach and propelling Aldean toward his first appearance at the top of the Hot 100.
Many notable figures in the Democratic Party have called out Aldean’s song.
“This is an anthem that reminds me of stories of young men like Trayvon Martin, Ralph Yarl … Ahmaud Arbery who were killed by white vigilantes,” Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones of Tennessee said on CNN about the Aldean song.
The song’s music video, which has over 35 million views, is interspersed with some clips of flag burnings and large protests.
Representatives for Aldean did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the weekend. But when the song came out and the backlash was shared in the media, Aldean responded in a social media post.
“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,” Aldean posted on social media, according to Billboard. The posts are no longer visible on his social media pages.
Pargo said burning the flag is defended speech. He also defended communism, saying while people in the United States “have been lied to about communism,” this protest welcomes people who may not agree with all of Revolution Club Chicago’s tenets.