Jason Aldean Shrugs Off ‘Weird’ Hank Williams Jr. Incident

Count Jason Aldean as one Hank Williams Jr. fan who understands his peculiarities. The ‘Tattoos on This Town’ singer says that the country legend’s sudden departure from the stage during the CMT taping of their ‘Artists of the Year’ duet on Tuesday night was surprising, but not offensive.

“I think when it comes to Hank, the only thing that you can predict about Hank is that he’s unpredictable,” Aldean tells Hitflix. “I’m still a huge fan. He’s one of my idols, one of the guys that I grew up listening to. I’m a huge fan and, you know, it was a little weird, but it’s Hank Jr., what are you going to say?”

Hank Jr. had reason to pull out of the performance, even though he knew it was going to be a special moment for his friend. “I’ve heard people mess up my songs and screw up Daddy’s songs. I was here to honor Jason, a kid I really like,” he said in a statement to Country Weekly. “When I walked out there, it didn’t feel right, it didn’t sound right. I didn’t want to disrespect him.”

Aldean, who has the rest of the month off for the holidays before returnin to the road in January, retaped his performance after Williams walked off stage. Fans will have to wait until Dec. 13 to find out if any of this makes the edited version of CMT’s ceremony.