Sophia Michaels
On Wednesday, Brittany Aldean — the wife of country star Jason Aldean — posted a video on Instagram of herself putting on makeup. That part was innocuous, but Ms. Aldean, an influencer with 2.2 million followers, accompanied the video with a caption that reeked of transphobic language. “I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase,” she wrote. “I love this girly life.” What’s more, she accompanied her video with Beyoncé’s 2006 song “Upgrade U,” seemingly unaware that Beyoncé just paid very specific tribute to trans ballroom culture on her new album, Renaissance.
Both Maren Morris and Cassadee Pope called out Aldean, née Kerr, for her comments. “You’d think celebs with beauty brands would see the positives in including LGBTQ+ people in their messaging,” Pope tweeted first on Friday. “But instead here we are, hearing someone compare their ‘tomboy phase’ to someone wanting to transition. Real nice.”
Morris, who has also been vocal in her support of the LGBTQ+ community, replied to Pope on Instagram with a missive-length comment assailing Aldean:
“I’m glad she didn’t become a boy either because we really don’t need another asshole dude in the world. Sucks when Karens try to hide their homophobia/transphobia behind their ‘protectiveness of the children.’ Weren’t they putting their kids in ‘Biden-is-a-pedo’ shirts on social media?” Morris wrote, a reference to a clothing line promoted by the Aldeans that features shirts with sayings like “Hidin’ from Biden” and pro-Trump imagery. “Fuck all the way off to Insurrection Barbie and the fellow IB’s trolling this comment section with their hypocritical, hateful asses.”
Aldean replied to Pope on Instagram with a novel-length post that read, in part, “Advocating for the genital mutilation of children under the disguise of love and calling it ‘gender affirming care’ is one of the worst evils” — a talking point adopted by the right to politicize medical care for trans youth. Eventually, conservative mouthpiece Candace Owens got involved, as did Owens’ friend, the country singer RaeLynn, and the whole thing turned toward the exhausting.
The takeaway? Country music, long known for its “we’re all friends” façade, is fracturing in a very public way.
