Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez have been separated since January and are reportedly headed for a divorce

Country music singer Jason Aldeon is facing an intense wave of backlash after his song, “Try That In A Small Town”, went viral online, prompting many people to accuse him of dog-whistle racism. The song sets footage of Black Lives Matter protests alongside lyrics like: “Try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own.” The song continues: “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, ya think you’re tough.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The BLM protests were a direct reaction to the murder of African-American man George Floyd by a white police officer. The clips in the music video, which also include an attempted convenience store robbery and other apparent crimes, alternate with shots of Aldean and his band performing in the public square of Columbia, Tennessee. To make things worse, the video is shot in front of the Maury County Courthouse, which at times appears to be on fire with images of burning US flags projected onto it. It’s the same building where a mob hanged 18-year-old African-American Henry Choate from the balcony in 1927. Columbia is also the site of an infamous 1946 race riot that nearly resulted in the lynching of future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. Another lyric goes: “Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well that s--- might fly in the city / Good luck.” Country Music Television (CMT) confirmed Tuesday that it had pulled the video from rotation. Social media has been ablaze with the controversy for much of the last week. Democrat state representative for Tenessee, Justin Jones, called the song "heinous", and a "shameful vision of gun extremism and vigilantism". One user said that if Lil Durk, a black American rapper, made a response to Aldean's video called "Try That On The South Side of Chicago", it would likely be denounced as violent. Others shared videos explaining exactly why people are interpreting the song as dog-whistle racism. Aldean has stood by the song, saying: “There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it – and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage – and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music – this one goes too far.” Needless to say, the people defending him are all the ones you might expect. Top Republicans have jumped to Aldean’s aid, including former president Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis. “Jason Aldean is a fantastic guy who just came out with a great new song. Support Jason all the way. MAGA!!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social account. The conservative influencer Ben Shapiro posted a video to his YouTube channel titled “Jason Aldean REFUSES To Get Cancelled”, in which he discusses the controversy and takes Aldean’s side. Most recently, Aldean has been filmed at a concert over the weekend defending the song further. He said: “What I am is a proud American.” “I love our country. I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bulls*** started happening to us.” “I love my country, I love my family, and I will do anything to protect that. I can tell you that.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Robbie Williams' highly anticipated docuseries has officially dropped on Netflix – and nothing was off limits. The four-part series kicked off by showing a 16-year-old Robbie joining Take That alongside Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Howard Donald. Despite being an instant hit, Robbie left the band five years later. The remaining four members parted ways the following year. Now, the 49-year-old is looking back at his lifetime spent in the spotlight, with never-seen-before footage. Robbie Williams | Official Trailer | Netflix www.youtube.com Here are five of the major talking points from the show: What happened between him and collaborator Guy Chambers? In one of the eps, Robbie shared how the partnership between him and Guy Chambers started to break down in the early 2000s, explaining how he felt restricted when his song 'Come Undone' was dismissed. The pair went on to part ways when Robbie addressed that he wanted their partnership to end. "He melted and now there’s a different Guy. And maybe there’s a different me too… I think Guy thought, 'We are a band called Robbie Williams,' but I needed full control as much as possible," he explained. The pair later reunited and worked on albums including Swings Both Ways, Under the Radar volumes one to three and The Christmas Present. His feud with Gary Barlow "It seemed like there was one person being managed in Take That, and it was Gary Barlow," Robbie candidly revealed in the series. "It was all geared around him and, as young person, I would have been jealous of that. I suppose a lot of me resented him.” Robbie reacted to resurfaced footage which showed him making a joke that his former Take That band member "is dead". The first ep saw Robbie's daughter ask who he hated most in the band to which he confirmed it was Gary. "I’m sorry I treated Gary like that," he said. His relationship with Geri Halliwell Robbie dated Spice Girls' Geri Halliwell in the early 90s, while he was at Alcoholics Anonymous. At the time, Robbie believed that she was calling the paparazzi on the pair when they were out and about. However, he now takes that back. "Now I don't think that's true for one second, but at the time I did believe it," he said. "It just goes to show what being in the spotlight can do to you psychologically when you can't trust anybody." Why he left Take That... Robbie shared the real reason behind leaving Take That, after rumours it was due to addiction issues. Speaking to the cameras, he revealed: "The sense that I wasn't ready or capable to fulfil the role that was being asked of me was palpable. "One day I went in for rehearsals, and then at lunchtime, they said, 'Rob, we need to have a band meeting.' I said to the boys I just couldn't be there anymore. "Then they said, 'Look, we wanna see if we can do this tour as a four-piece. What do you think?' "And in the end, 'What do you think?' was me deciding to leave Take That." Opening up about his struggles... Robbie bravely opened up about his past struggles with drugs and alcohol, saying he "was ingesting everything [he] could get [his] hands on - ecstasy, cocaine, drinking." He went on to say that he drank "like a bottle of vodka" a night before going into rehearsals. "Everybody knew I was in trouble, but they didn't care, I'd gone past the point of no return," he said. "My life had spiralled out of control so severely that my manager understood what needed to happen, I needed to be carted off to rehab. He continued: "I used to drink and do drugs because it helped me not feel this way, when you strip that away all the everything comes up that you’ve been suppressing and I’ve been suppressing that for years. I’m depressed and I’m mentally ill." Robbie, who was diagnosed with depression in his early twenties, said: "People at this point still thought that if good things are happening to you and you're successful, what is there to be upset about? "I had to go on stage in front of thousands of people feeling like you’re on the hundredth floor, the room’s burning and you either stay in the room or burn to death or you jump out of the window to your death. It’s that uncomfortable." How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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