Jason Aldean is making it clear that he has no plans to share the stage with Jelly Roll anytime soon.
In a recent podcast appearance, Aldean claimed that Jelly Roll reached out to him with a rather unusual request, allegedly asking to join one of the shows on Aldean’s ongoing North American tour.
According to Aldean, the request came after Jelly Roll was forced to cancel his own tour because of backlash surrounding remarks he allegedly made about President Donald Trump.
“He messaged me and begged me to let him perform at one of my concerts because, apparently, he had to cancel his own tour over his controversial remarks about President Trump,” Aldean said.
Aldean said he initially chose not to respond to the message. However, he claimed Jelly Roll continued trying to contact him by phone.
“At first, I ignored him, but then he started calling me,” Aldean explained. “I politely declined his request.”
That apparently wasn’t the end of the story.
Aldean went on to make the much more dramatic claim that Jelly Roll showed up at one of his concerts anyway and attempted to get backstage and onto the stage while Aldean was performing.
“On the day of the concert, I saw him sneaking backstage and trying to get onto the stage while I was performing,” Aldean said. “I told security to throw him out.”
The alleged incident would certainly make for an awkward backstage encounter between two major names in country music. Rather than turning the situation into a public confrontation, Aldean said he simply had security remove Jelly Roll from the venue.
For Aldean, the matter apparently comes down to personal responsibility. He argued that Jelly Roll created the controversy surrounding his own tour and shouldn’t expect other artists to step in and rescue him.
“He did this to himself, and I won’t ever work with someone like him,” Aldean said.
The comments are likely to fuel plenty of discussion among country music fans, particularly because both singers have large and passionate audiences.
Jelly Roll has built a reputation for crossing musical boundaries and connecting with fans through his personal story, while Aldean has remained one of the biggest names in contemporary country music. Their careers have taken different paths, but the alleged backstage confrontation puts the two artists at the center of a very different kind of headline.
Whether Jelly Roll actually attempted to get onto Aldean’s stage remains part of the reported story, but Aldean’s message is unmistakable: he doesn’t want the singer joining his shows.
And if Aldean’s account is accurate, Jelly Roll didn’t exactly leave the situation with an invitation to come back.