PolitiFact – Luke Bryan didn’t encourage giving CMT ‘the Bud Light treatment.’ That originated on satire site

Social media remains abuzz over CMT’s decision to stop playing Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” music video. But you shouldn’t believe every headline you read.

“Luke Bryan pulls his videos from CMT: ‘Time for the Bud Light treatment,’” read the headline in a screenshot shared in a July 21 Facebook post.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

(Screenshot from Facebook.)

This claim about Luke Bryan originated from a satirical website, but it’s being shared across social media without context that conveys the claims were fake and humorous.

For example, the Facebook screenshot claimed country music star and television personality Luke Bryan told CMT’s “Executive Vice President Joe Barron, ‘Until you reinstate Jason’s video and issue him a formal apology, you get nothing from my label.’”

When PolitiFact looked into this detail, the story began unraveling. We found no evidence that a person named Joe Barron is CMT’s “executive vice president.” 

Joe Barron is, however, a recurring character in stories produced by a network of websites known for publishing satirical news.

The story about Bryan and Barron traces back to an article on The Dunning-Kruger Times, which describes itself as “a subsidiary of the ‘America’s Last Line of Defense’ network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery.” It includes the following disclaimer: “Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real.”

Parts of the article that weren’t captured in the screenshot are more obviously satirical. For example, it cites “the people whose adrenaline levels doubled” after watching Aldean’s music video and later jokes about a 1,400-acre estate outside of Nashville that Aldean once owned, saying the property was “basically the size of a small town.”

PolitiFact has repeatedly debunked false claims that originate from articles posted on this satire site.

Another article published on the site Uplifting Today also drove claims about Bryan clashing with CMT over the Aldean controversy. Besides claiming that Bryan removed his videos from the network, the article suggested President Joe Biden canceled his CMT subscription and country singer Billy Ray Cyrus was “working on a sequel to ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ called ‘Achy Breaky Cart’ about a dangerous run-in at a rural Walmart.” Readers might be forgiven for missing teeny, tiny text at the bottom of the story saying it’s on a global parody website.

PolitiFact reached out to Bryan’s agent and publicity contacts but did not hear back in time of publication. A CMT spokesperson confirmed Bryan had not pulled his videos from CMT. 

Bryan shouted Aldean out during his July 20 concert in Ridgefield, Washington. “Wanna send this one out to my buddy Jason Aldean tonight, all right?” Bryan said. 

Our ruling

Facebook posts claimed, “Luke Bryan pulls his videos from CMT: ‘Time for the Bud Light treatment.’”

This originated on a satire website, but has been shared without the context that showed it was a joke. 

We rate claims that don’t include a satire disclaimer False.

RELATED: Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town’ video includes footage from non-U.S. protests

RELATED: Was Garth Brooks ghosted by Illinois fans over his pro-LGBTQ+ stance? No. That story is satirical