Jason Aldean did not sing 'Go Woke, Go Broke'

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on August 4, 2023 at 22:08
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP USA
Social media posts claim American country music singer Jason Aldean debuted a new song to support company boycotts spearheaded by US conservatives. This is false; the song comes from a TikTok creator and is not linked to the musician.

"JASON ALDEAN DEBUTS GO WOKE, GO BROKE LIVE," says text over a video shared July 27, 2023 on Instagram.

The clip supposedly shows the country artist performing an expletive-filled song about boycotts against companies including Target and Bud Light for their LGBTQ merchandise and marketing.

"The Left boycott a song and send it to Number 1. The Right boycott a beer and inflict a $27 billion hit to the company," the post's caption says.

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Screenshot of an Instagram post taken August 4, 2023

Several other iterations of the post have circulated on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X."

In mid-July, Aldean became the center of controversy after releasing the music video for his new single "Try That in a Small Town." Critics say the video -- which features lyrics about guns, Black Lives Matter protest footage and a scene at a courthouse where a Black teenager was lynched in 1927 -- glorifies violence and fuels racism.

Country Music Television pulled the music video off the air, but conservative outrage pushed the song to number one on the Billboard 200.

Claims that Aldean released another track after criticism of "Try That in A Small Town" are false -- the song shared online does not come from the country artist.

"I wrote it and sang it," a TikTok creator who goes by "jokesonwokes" told AFP in an Instagram message.

Although the account's posts do not claim Aldean performed the song, they include images of the musician and tag him. The page has several similar posts that add new lyrics to popular country songs.

"I certainly never imagined this silly thing would take off like it did," said the creator, whose most popular video now has more than four million views on TikTok.

There was no trace of "Go Woke, Go Broke" on Aldean's social media profiles, or on music streaming services as of August 4, 2023.

AFP contacted Aldean's representatives for comment, but no response was received.

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