Cassadee Pope will not be silenced. On this week’s Hold My Hair podcast, the country singer spoke candidly about her feud with Brittany Aldean, the wife of Jason Aldean. A back-and-forth ensued in August 2022 after Brittany posted a video with the caption, “I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life.” Afterward, her husband replied, “Lmao!! I’m glad they didn’t too, cause you and I wouldn’t have worked out.” In response to those comments, Pope wrote on Twitter, “You’d think celebs with beauty brands would see the positives in including LGBTQ+ people in their messaging. But instead, here we are, hearing someone compare their ‘tomboy phase’ to someone wanting to transition. Real nice.”
Taking a closer look at the exchange in which Brittany defended her comments against the criticism, Pope explained that she had no regrets about what she said. “If I see something that is being said that I feel is harmful to a community that I care about … I’ll say anything,” Pope said on the podcast while adding that she believes “sometimes it’s better to just amplify the voices of that community because they know what they’re talking about way more than I do, sometimes I can’t help [but stick up for them myself].” Despite the backlash Pope’s criticisms caused, she said that it did not affect her attitude toward the issue at all. “People would come to my page and call me things because I’m sticking up for a community that I care about … I don’t want them at my shows anyway,” Pope said. “I don’t want them around me.”
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Country singer Maren Morris also supported the transgender community during the feud, calling Brittany “Insurrection Barbie” in reference to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building. The Aldeans have recently been at the center of a new controversy after Jason’s song and music video for “Try That In A Small Town” was criticized for its violence and racism. “I just feel like if you’ve been called out THIS MANY TIMES about being problematic, maybe it’s time to self-reflect? But what do I know ,” Pope wrote about the song in a tweet last month. The controversy surrounding “Try That In A Small Town” ended up boosting the song to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after it was released.
