Jason Aldean, the country music star who made headlines this year with his controversial song “Try That in a Small Town,” was on Wednesday’s “CBS Mornings” and, for the most part, defended his song in his first network interview since the song became a hot-button issue. Or, well, he tried to defend it.

Aldean and his supporters say the song is about so-called small-town values, while critics believe the song and video contain racist undertones and calls for violence.

The video for the song originally included a Black Lives Matter protest.

Aldean told CBS News’ Jan Crawford, “There was people of all color doing stuff in the video. That’s what I don’t understand. There was white people in there. There was Black people. I mean, this video did not shine light on one specific group and say, ‘That’s the problem.’ And anybody that saw that in the video, then you weren’t looking hard enough in the video, is all I can tell you.”

In addition, the video had a scene outside the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee — where a Black teenager was lynched in 1927. Aldean, who lives in Maury County, said he hadn’t been aware of the lynching, adding, “But I also don’t go back a hundred years and check on the history of a place before we go shoot it either. It’s also the place that I go get my car tags every year. It’s my county that I live in.”

Aldean sounded as if he had no regrets about the song or video: “I don’t feel bad about that because I know my intentions behind, you know, shooting the video there and recording the song and everything.”

He also said, “I would do it over again, every time … minus the setting, knowing what I know now, obviously, you know, knowing that that was gonna be a thing, you know, maybe you look at doing it somewhere else.”

Sounds as if he didn’t regret shooting the video outside the courthouse until it became a “thing.” In other words, it wasn’t until others had an issue that he regretted the choice of the location. Or to put it even more bluntly: He seems bothered people made a big deal about it.

Aldean said he thought the only heat he might take for the song was a reference to having a gun. The clip of the Black Lives Matter protest was removed from the video because, Aldean said, he didn’t have permission to use it.

The music video was pulled by Country Music Television, but it hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July. It also became a big topic in conservative media, mostly by hosts and writers dismissing the concerns of racist undertones and banging their fists about so-called cancel culture.

Moving closer to a new leader at The Washington Post

Puck’s Dylan Byers reports Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is moving closer to naming a CEO to replace Fred Ryan, who announced back in June that he was stepping down to take charge of the Center on Public Civility.

Byers wrote, “Following a four-months-long search by interim chief executive Patty Stonesifer and the Sucherman executive search firm, Bezos solicited six-page memos from five semi-finalist candidates and conducted one-on-one Zoom interviews with each of them. He then winnowed the group down to two finalists — Josh Steiner, the former banker and government official and current Bloomberg L.P. lieutenant, and Will Lewis, the former Dow Jones C.E.O. — both of whom he interviewed in person last week during hours-long meetings that were followed by lunch, per sources familiar.”

Then Byers reported that Steiner has withdrawn his name from consideration and that Lewis is in “the catbird seat,” but it’s not a done deal just yet.

A Post spokesperson told Byers a decision is likely to be announced this month.

The return of the GMA hosts

Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes, shown here in May 2022. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

Look who’s back. Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes, who were removed as co-hosts on the third hour of ABC’s “Good Morning America” when their romantic relationship became public earlier this year, are returning with a new podcast.

Their pod, to be called “Amy & T.J.,” will be produced by iHeart and debut Dec. 5. According to a release from iHeart, it will be the “first time Robach and Holmes speak publicly since their own names became a part of the headlines.” It also said nothing will be “off limits.” The show, iHeart says, will “explore meaningful conversations about current events, pop culture, and everything in between.”

Late last year, the Daily Mail published photos of Robach and Holmes that seemed to indicate the two were involved romantically. At the time, both were married to other people, although the statuses of their marriages at the time still isn’t clear publicly. (The two are now divorced and they are in a relationship with one another.)

ABC News president Kimberly Godwin pulled the two off the air shortly after the Daily Mail photos. She said it was an “internal and external distraction.” In January, a deal was worked out for Robach and Holmes to leave the network. I argued at the time that two adults in a consensual relationship was not a fireable offense, especially because neither reported to the other. I argued that, sure, some might see the relationship as shady given their marriage statuses, but should networks be in the morality business? Clearly, however, ABC worried about how viewers would react to their relationship. And, it’s always possible there was more going on behind the scenes that has never been made public.

So now they start a podcast. They posted a photo together on Instagram Wednesday, with Holmes’ arm around Robach. Robach wrote, “How’s this for instagram official? #silentnomore ‘Amy & T.J.’ December 5th. Listen on the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are heard. @amyandtjpodcast.”

NBC gears up to debate

The third Republican presidential debate will be held next Wednesday in Miami and will be aired on NBC and NBC News’ various streaming services. “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt and “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker will moderate, along with Hugh Hewitt, host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show” on Salem Radio Network.

NBC News will have several days of coverage leading up to the debate.

Welker will moderate a special edition of “Meet the Press” on Sunday from Miami. She will be joined by The Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter, Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher, Republican strategist Sara Fagen and Noticias Telemundo’s Julio Vaqueiro. NBC News’ Steve Kornacki will also be on to go over the latest polls.

Holt will anchor the “Nightly News” from Miami on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And “Today” show anchor Craig Melvin will be in Miami on Wednesday morning.

Following the debate, NBC News Now anchors Tom Llamas and Hallie Jackson will anchor post-debate special coverage and analysis on NBC and NBC News Now live from Miami.

Russo backs out

Last week I wrote about how sports radio and TV personality Chris “Mad Dog” Russo said he would retire if the Arizona Diamondbacks came back and beat the Philadelphia Phillies to get to the World Series. The Diamondbacks did indeed win, but Russo reneged on word to retire.

So Russo’s good buddy, radio superstar Howard Stern, helped Russo come up with an alternative: to walk down a block in Manhattan wearing a Diamondbacks’ bikini with a sign that said, “I’m a liar and a dope.”

But now, apparently, Russo isn’t going to do that either.

And that had Stern upset. Stern said on his show this week, “My listeners are furious with Mad Dog for pulling out his obligation to make good on a walk of shame punishment. … Listen, I’m out of this Mad Dog thing. I don’t want to be involved in it anymore. I offered him a solution.”

Stern added. “I’m really fond of the guy, but he really (messed) up. I’m out of it. I don’t care. He can do whatever he wants. Let him deal with it.”

Cuts at Condé Nast

Media publisher Condé Nast — whose properties include Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ and Vanity Fair — is expected to cut about 5% of its workforce. That figures to be around 270 employees.

The New York Times’ Katie Robertson and Benjamin Mullin report that Condé Nast is “backtracking on a much-ballyhooed plan to build up an in-house video studio to tap into Hollywood’s demand for film and TV ideas.”

Robertson and Mullin wrote, “Roger Lynch, the chief executive of Condé Nast, told workers in a note on Wednesday morning that the cuts were a response to digital advertising pressures, a decline in social media traffic and shifting audience behaviors, including a move to short-form video. He said the video business would be folded in with the editorial brands.”

In that note, Lynch wrote, “While we can’t control platform algorithms or how A.I. may change search traffic, we believe our long-term success will be determined by growing the many areas that we can control, including subscriptions and e-commerce, where we directly own the relationship with our audience.

Media tidbits

• CBS “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert says he’ll announce tonight an upcoming special guest, someone he calls “a very, very rare talk-show guest.” He said he flew to Los Angeles to do the interview, which will air Nov. 13. He said, “Place your bets now.” Most social media folks placed their bet on Barbra Streisand with a few votes for Jack Nicholson.
• Speaking of CBS and late night, Variety’s Brian Steinberg with “‘After Midnight,’ CBS’ New Late-Night Entry Produced by Stephen Colbert, to Debut in 2024.”
• People’s Virginia Chamlee with “NewsNation’s Dan Abrams Is Not Slowing Down, 20 Years After Cancer Diagnosis.” Abrams compared one of his passions (winemaking) to journalism. Abrams told Chamlee, “The people who come to really appreciate a wine, appreciate the story behind it — they want transparency. They want to understand what’s going into this, what’s making this. Transparency is what I have always believed is the single most important thing if you’re hosting a news show. … Maybe there’s an analogy there — that taking people behind the curtain a little bit in both media and the winemaking — is really important.”
• AL.com’s Howard Koplowitz with “Alabama newspaper publisher and reporter arrested, charged with disclosing grand jury secrets.”
• In this segment, ABC’s “The View” talks about ousted Fox News personality Tucker Carlson.
• Chuck Todd’s latest column for NBC News: “Biden and abortion are on the ballot. The question is which matters more.”
• Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be a guest on Thursday morning’s “Morning Joe” on MSNBC.
• Veteran New York Times journalist and editor Jason Stallman, who most recently led the Times’ superb documentary work on FX and Hulu, has been named editor at large for The Athletic — the sports website owned by the Times. In an announcement note, The Athletic’s executive editor, Steven Ginsberg, said, “Jason will help oversee the overall quality and integrity of our journalism across the newsroom, while spearheading projects and lines of coverage that impact multiple sports. He will also launch initiatives aimed at the biggest moments on the sports calendar.”
• Awful Announcing with “The 10 best ESPN shows of all time.” Like most lists, it’s supposed to be fun and create discussion. But, come on, the groundbreaking “The Sports Reporters” should be higher than No. 8.
• Also from Awful Announcing in the wake of the historically low World Series TV ratings: “Should you care about World Series ratings?” (Uh, yeah, you should.)

Hot type

• Pretty wild story from Roger Sollenberger, a senior political reporter for The Daily Beast: “Does New Speaker of the House Mike Johnson Have a Bank Account?”
• The Washington Post’s Sydney Page with “A teen died. Now his friends visit his grandma for breakfast each week.”

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