Very few people go through life thinking they’re the villain of their own story.
Even folks who are forever bullying and antagonizing others usually believe that they have a very good, or even righteous, reason for doing so.
It’s important to bear this strange quirk of human psychology in mind when assessing the behavior of someone like Brittany Aldean.
Because the tendency toward narcissistic self-delusion is very, very strong in that one.
Brittany is the wife of country singer Jason Aldean, which means she’s usually about 400,000 steps removed from any sort of mainstream press coverage.
She made headlines earlier this week, however, when she made a gross, weird transphobic joke on her own Instagram page.
In the caption of a video in which she proudly does her own makeup (this gal seems to have a whole lot of time on her hands), Brittany wrote:
“I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life.
Not surprisingly, a lot of people took offense to the post, in which Aldean seemed to compare her “tomboy phase” to the process of transitioning.
It seems clear that her true intent was to call attention to her page with a belittling, bigoted transphobic remark, and thankfully, she was quickly called out by many, including singers Cassadee Pope and Maren Morris.
“You’d think celebs with beauty brands would see the positives in including LGBTQ+ people in their messaging,” Cassadee wrote on Instagram and Twitter.
“But instead, here we are, hearing someone compare their ‘tomboy phase’ to someone wanting to transition. Real nice.”
Cassadee’s response was widely praised.
Millions applauded and seconded Pope’s remarks, including fellow singer-songwriter Maren Morris.
“It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human?” Morris tweeted.
“Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.”
(Aldean has been an outspoken supporter of the January 6 Capitol Building riots.)
Understandably upset at being put in her place by two people with actual careers and fanbases, Aldean lashed out — while at the same time attempting to boost her personal brand.
“Per usual, my words have been taken out of context over the last week,” she wrote on Instagram, alongside the photo below.
“Instead of getting twisted about the twisting of my words, I’ve chosen to bring some good out of it.”
“Introducing our NEW Barbie inspired line LIVE NOW,” she continued.
As you can see, the possibly-copyright infringing t-shirts are emblazoned with the words “Don’t Tread on Our Kids,” a clear reference to Aldean’s anti-trans beliefs.
The move is awful primarily because Brittany is using this situation to spread hate, but it also sucks that she’s effectively extending her 15 minutes of fame, when we would all prefer that she simply go away.
Maren and Brittany got into in a big way this week, with Brittany delighting all three of her fans by hurling insults like “Karen Morris” at the wildly popular singer.
Morris has yet to respond to this latest act of weaponized lameness from her new rival, but we’re sure she’ll get around to squashing this insect eventually.
And we’ll be the first to tell you all about it when she does.
