The View Hosts REACT To Jason Aldean s ‘Try That In A Small Town Controversy

"The View" hosts are weighing in on Jason Aldean's controversial new song "Try That In A Small Town." On Thursday, Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Haines, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin discussed the backlash surrounding the polarizing track and its music video. "There's a lot wrong here with this," Whoopi said. While Sarah and Joy discussed the tune's lyrics related to small towns and big cities, Alyssa said she was giving the country star the benefit of the doubt. "I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that his intent wasn't to stoke division, glorify violence or racism. I'm going to give him that benefit of the doubt…The imagery is what becomes problematic," she claimed. Sunny, however, didn’t agree. "I'm not going to give him the benefit of the doubt…My father is from Augusta and Macon and I spent many summers there. Yeah, both. It is one of the most racist places in this country. So don't tell me that he knew nothing about what that imagery meant. So, I don't give him the benefit," she explained. Jason took to Instagram to respond to the backlash earlier in the week, saying that the intention of the song was to refer to the feeling of community and people taking care of their neighbors. "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. 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 is not 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," he wrote.