Claim that Kid Rock canceled shows with Sheryl Crow originated as satire | Fact check

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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The claim: Kid Rock canceled six tour dates with Sheryl Crow in support of Jason Aldean

A July 25 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows an image of musicians Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow performing together alongside a separate image of country singer Jason Aldean.

"Kid Rock cancels six tour dates with Sheryl Crow: 'Jason Aldean is a good man,'" reads the post.

The post was shared more than 600 times in two days. Similar Facebook posts amassed hundreds of additional shares.

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Our rating: False

The claim originated on a satirical website. Neither performer's website makes any mention of recent canceled concerts or upcoming performances together.

Satirical claim spreads online amid 'Try That in a Small Town' controversy

The claim is a reference to the ongoing controversy over Aldean's "Try That In A Small Town," a song he released July 14 that many critics perceive to be supportive of lynching and gun violence. CMT pulled the song's music video off the air in response to the backlash, as USA TODAY previously reported.

Aldean has defended himself and the song, putting out a lengthy statement on Twitter and telling a crowd gathered for a recent concert, "Cancel culture is a thing," before playing the song.

Crow, in a July 18 tweet, weighed in on the controversy, saying, "I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence. There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting."

Aldean was performing when a gunman opened fire at a Las Vegas music festival in 2017, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds more. It remains the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Fact check: No, Luke Bryan did not remove videos from CMT in support of Jason Aldean

There is no evidence to support the post's claim Kid Rock canceled multiple tour dates with Crow due to her criticism of Aldean. Crow's website lists seven upcoming concerts, while Kid Rock's website lists just one, a July 29 show in Youngstown, Ohio.

There is no mention of any recent cancellations on Kid Rock's website, nor any mention of upcoming performances with Crow, though the two did tour together in 2011. And there are no credible news reports of such a cancelation.

The claim originated with an article on the website of "The Dunning-Kruger Times," which calls itself "a subsidiary of the 'America's Last Line of Defense' network of parody, satire and tomfoolery."

"Everything on this website is fiction," the website's "About Us" page says. "It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined."

The article is an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where stories written as satire and presented that way originally are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here. The many posts sharing this claim online had no reference to the Dunning-Kruger Times or the claim being satire.

USA TODAY has previously debunked other false claims about the controversy over Aldean's song, including that Aldean was replacing Garth Brooks as the CMA awards host, that Luke Bryan removed his videos from CMT in support of Aldean and that Hank Williams Jr. resigned from CMT's board of directors in support of Aldean.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

Contributing: BrieAnna Frank

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Claim that Kid Rock canceled Sheryl Crow shows is satire | Fact check