Country music star Jason Aldean is embroiled in controversy over his music video for the song “Try That In A Small Town.”
In the video, Aldean performs in front of a Tennessee courthouse that was the site of the 1927 lynching of Henry Choate, an 18-year-old Black man, and a 1946 race riot. Some people have criticized the video for being “pro-lynching,” which Aldean denied in a tweet posted on July 18.
Country Music Television (CMT) removed the video from the network’s rotation three days after it was released.
As some people are calling for a boycott of CMT over its removal of the video, social media posts claim country star Hank Williams Jr. has resigned from the network’s board of directors in support of Aldean.
THE QUESTION
Did Hank Williams Jr. resign from the CMT Board of Directors in support of Jason Aldean?
THE SOURCES
- Country Music Television (CMT) spokesperson
- Ken Levitan, Hank Williams Jr.’s manager
- The Dunning-Kruger Times website
THE ANSWER
No, Hank Williams Jr. didn’t resign from the CMT Board of Directors in support of Jason Aldean. The false claim was originally published by a satirical website called “The Dunning-Kruger Times.”
WHAT WE FOUND
A spokesperson for Country Music Television (CMT) told VERIFY the claim about Hank Williams, Jr. resigning from the network’s board of directors is “entirely false.”
The network does not have a board of directors from which anyone could resign, the CMT spokesperson said.
Ken Levitan, who manages Hank Williams Jr., also confirmed that the country singer has never served on a board of directors for CMT.
The false claim circulating online stems from a fake article published by a satire website called “The Dunning-Kruger Times.” The website’s “About Us” section says it posts satirical content.
“Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real,” the website description says.
The fake article about Hank Williams Jr. includes a fabricated quote about his support of “free speech” and Aldean. But Williams Jr., who has faced controversy of his own over the years, has not publicly commented on Aldean or his music video.
The Dunning-Kruger Times has published other satirical articles tied to the Aldean controversy. Those articles baselessly claim that country star Blake Shelton canceled a $30 million project with CMT and that the network reinstated Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town” video.
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