According to USA Today, on July 25, a Facebook post surfaced showing an image of musicians Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow performing together, accompanied by a separate image of country singer Jason Aldean. The post claimed that Kid Rock had canceled six tour dates with Sheryl Crow, stating that “Jason Aldean is a good man.” The post gained significant traction, being shared more than 600 times within two days. Similar posts on Facebook also garnered hundreds of additional shares.
However, the claim was rated as false, as it originated from a satirical website. Neither Kid Rock’s nor Sheryl Crow’s official websites made any mention of recent canceled concerts or upcoming performances together. The claim seemed to be a satirical reference to the ongoing controversy surrounding Jason Aldean’s song “Try That In A Small Town,” which some critics perceived as supportive of lynching and gun violence. The music video for the song was pulled off the air by CMT in response to the backlash.
In the midst of the controversy, Jason Aldean defended himself and his song, issuing a lengthy statement on Twitter and addressing the crowd at one of his concerts by mentioning “cancel culture” before playing the song. Sheryl Crow also weighed in on the matter via a tweet on July 18, expressing her disapproval of promoting violence and emphasizing the need to address the issue of violence, even in small towns.
The claim that Kid Rock canceled tour dates with Sheryl Crow due to her criticism of Jason Aldean had no factual basis. Sheryl Crow’s website listed seven upcoming concerts, while Kid Rock’s website listed only one, scheduled for July 29 in Youngstown, Ohio. There was no evidence of any recent cancellations on Kid Rock’s website, nor any mention of upcoming performances with Sheryl Crow, although the two artists had previously toured together in 2011. Legitimate news reports also did not confirm any such cancellation.
The claim originated from an article on the website of “The Dunning-Kruger Times,” which identifies itself as a subsidiary of the “America’s Last Line of Defense” network, known for publishing parody, satire, and fictional content. The website clearly states that everything published on it is fictional and should not be considered real news.
This incident serves as an example of “stolen satire,” where satirical stories are reposted in a way that makes them appear genuine, leading readers to believe in their authenticity. In this case, many of the posts sharing the claim did not attribute it to satire, leading readers to be misled. USA TODAY and Lead Stories have previously debunked other false claims related to the controversy over Jason Aldean’s song, including false reports about Aldean replacing Garth Brooks as the CMA awards host, Luke Bryan removing his videos from CMT in support of Aldean, and Hank Williams Jr. resigning from CMT’s board of directors in support of Aldean.
