In a tale that’s more shocking than finding a hipster in a honky-tonk, Country Music Television (CMT) has managed to send a $200 billion tumbleweed rolling through their revenue after yanking Jason Aldean’s hit song “Try That In A Small Town” from their rotation. Just when we thought country music was all about lost dogs and pick-up trucks, it delivers a financial cliffhanger that could make Wall Street blush!
Yes, dear reader, you read that right. CMT lost $200 billion in a single day. That’s billion, with a ‘b.’ To put it in perspective, that’s enough money to buy every single one of us a ticket to the Grand Ole Opry and still have enough left over to make cowboy boots for every man, woman, and child on the planet.
The story goes like this: Jason Aldean, country music superstar and guy-next-door with a guitar, released a song that ruffled more feathers than a fight in a hen house. His song, set in the backdrop of a lynching site and peppered with lyrics about behaviors that wouldn’t be tolerated in a small town, stirred up a perfect storm of controversy.
Faced with this tempest, CMT decided to play it safe. They pulled the plug on Aldean’s song, perhaps hoping to sidestep the controversy. But little did they know, they were stepping right into a financial sinkhole.
The reaction from viewers was swift and as stinging as a slap from a jilted lover in a country song. The channel’s viewership dipped lower than a limbo bar at a cowboy party, and sponsors scattered faster than chickens at the sight of a coyote.
In the financial equivalent of a country song played backward, CMT didn’t get their girl, dog, or truck back. Instead, they watched a whopping $200 billion disappear faster than beer on a sunny day at a country music festival.