Jason Aldean Opens SNL, But Not Everyone Was Happy About It.

On Saturday Night, Jason Aldean made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Vegas where he was performing.  At the same time he also paid tribute to Tom Petty by playing his hit “I Won’t Back Down”, a song that was very fitting given the circumstances.

It was a great tribute, but it seems not everyone was on board with him giving it.  Some fans were upset that  Jason Aldean cancelled 3 shows in California this weekend, and then showed up on TV to perform instead.  UFC President Dana White says he reached out to Jason’s team to see if he would perform the national anthem before UFC 216, Saturday Night in Las Vegas, where several shooting survivors and 1500 first responders were in attendance, but that request was denied.  And he’s not too happy about it.

“[Jason’s] image was more important than coming back to Vegas and playing for the people who are his fans and who got shot watching him play,” White says, according to TMZ. “F**k you, Jason Aldean. Stay out of Vegas.”

Really?!?  That doesn’t seem like the right reaction, and luckily Jason didn’t take Dana White’s advice.  The next next day, Jason went to Vegas, but not to sing an anthem, he was there to visit his fans who were victims of the shooting.

He went to University Medical Center, which announced the visit in posts on Facebook and Twitter.

UMC, which has Southern Nevada’s only Level I trauma center, received 104 patients in the hours after the shooting, and more victims were later transferred to the hospital from other medical centers that couldn’t handle such severe injuries.

Good on Jason Aldean for taking the time to visit those fans.  And I think Dana White, and others who are complaining are forgetting that Jason was a victim too.  Yes he wasn’t shot, but I can’t even begin to imagine what he’s going through, and he has the right to deal with what happened in whatever way is best for him.