Country music star Jason Aldean is happy to speak out and address hot-button political issues, even as some of his peers remain silent for fear of being canceled.
“I think people know where I stand politically. I’m not a guy that’s just going to go out there and start trying to stir the pot just to stir the pot,” Aldean said in a recent appearance on Audacy’s Rob + Holly. “At some point, it’s gotten to where if you’re a conservative and you’re in this business, you’re not allowed to speak.”
The “Dirt Road Anthem” singer said he has “a lot of friends in this business” who think the way he does, however they self-censor because they “are really scared to stand up and say anything for fear of backlash.”
Speaking up is better than being silenced, Aldean said:
There’s times where I feel like I don’t have a choice but to speak up or say something because I feel nobody else in the industry, or not a lot of people in our industry do that for fear. I just feel like somebody’s got to be that guy and if it’s me, then it’s fine.
The four-time Grammy nominee said he wouldn’t be able to sleep if he held his tongue and refused to speak out.
“To me, it’s hard for [me] to go lay my head down at night with a clear conscience, feeling like I’m a coward for not saying the things that I want to say or I feel like need to be said.”
The remarks come after his wife, Brittany Aldean, came under fire for sharing photos of herself and their kids sporting anti-Joe Biden shirts, as Breitbart News reported.
In another photo, Brittany is wearing a shirt reading, “Anti-Biden Social Club.”
The country singer approved of the photo, commenting, “My boy!”
Aldean maintained in his appearance on “Rob + Holly” universal acclamation for his views is never expected — he’s simply offering his opinion.
“People are going to have their opinion about whatever I say or think or whatever and that’s completely fine,” he said. “You don’t have to agree with me, I don’t expect everybody to agree with me, but I also have a voice and opinion just like everybody else.”