Country singer Jason Aldean says conservatives in his industry have been shunned and are afraid to speak up because they don't want to be canceled.
''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,'' Aldean, 44, said Thursday on Audacy's ''Rob + Holly'' show.
''I just feel like somebody's got to be that guy and if it's me, then it's fine,'' he added. ''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.''
In October, Aldean's wife, Brittany, came under fire for sharing photos of herself and their kids sporting anti-Joe Biden shirts. She also caught backlash after the 2020 presidential election for wearing a sweatshirt that read ''STILL MY PRESIDENT'' when former President Donald Trump was questioning the results of the race against President Joe Biden.
Aldean said he has a ''lot of friends in this business that think the way I think, and a lot of them are really scared to stand up and say anything for fear of backlash or whatever the case may be.''
He also said he struggles to sleep if he believes strongly in something and doesn't speak up.
"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."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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