The Big Picture
- Real Housewives of Atlanta‘s Kim Zolciak-Biermann’s attendance at a Jason Aldean concert, despite the controversy surrounding his song and video, shows her actions speak louder than her denial of racism accusations.
- Her previous instances of racial insensitivity, such as the “fried chicken” comment and “Roach-gate”, demonstrate her lack of understanding and perpetuation of harmful stereotypes.
- By attending the concert and not condemning the song or addressing the controversy, Kim Zolciak-Biermann continues to show a lack of allyship towards the Black community, leaving RHOA fans disappointed.
Kim Zolciak-Biermann has vehemently denied multiple accusations of racism during her time on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Recently, she posted pictures with her daughter at a Jason Aldean concert, a country artist who has recently made headlines for his new song, “Try That In A Small Town” due to implications within the lyrics, as well as the music video being filmed at a location where lynchings occurred in the south. This latest development shows that her actions are beginning to speak louder than her words. Kim Zolciak-Biermann has risen to popularity on the back of Black RHOA fans since 2008. This is a fact, as it is projected that 61% of RHOA’s consistent viewers are Black. Without RHOA, Kim Zolciak-Biermann would be a name that hardly anybody knows.
Her time in the limelight has not been without controversy either; she started out on the series as somebody’s mistress and was accused of racism several times over the past several years. She, of course, denied these accusations every time, but has she ever actually proven that she isn’t racist? Because it is well known that people can still be racist even if they have friends who are of the race they are prejudiced against. Where are the moments that Kim has shown herself to be an ally of the Black community? It has been difficult to find any examples of actions that prove she is not racist, but there are certainly plenty of examples that prove the contrary.
Kim Zolciak-Biermann’s Racial Insensitivity Is Loaded With Microaggressions
There is nothing a person who does racist things hates more than being called racist. And it’s easy to see that she doesn’t think she is racist, but what she has yet to realize are the numerous microaggressions that are, in fact, racist. Unintentionally racist actions are also called microaggressions. First, there are examples displayed during her time on RHOA. Early on in the series she was accused of racism by NeNe Leakes due to the way she was treating her then personal assistant, Sweetie. Fans felt that the way Kim treated her was so bad that they actually began a Free Sweetie Campaign online. Sweetie has denied all claims of Kim being racist towards her, sharing that they remained friends even after she was fired as her assistant. When asked about Kroy, on the other hand, Sweetie became more tight-lipped, suggesting that Kroy may have been the reason she was fired.
Now there are more concrete examples of Kim’s microaggressions in the series itself. Longtime fans can certainly remember the moment she said, “I don’t want to sit around with NeNe and eat chicken.” This comment seems innocent to those who have no idea about the racist implications behind the connection between Black people and chicken. Black people eating fried chicken and watermelon being negative stemmed from the 1915 KKK film Birth of a Nation, which showed men in Blackface slovenly eating fried chicken in a scene created to warn people of the dangers of letting Black people vote. The stereotype has been used ever since as a way to refer to Black people as lazy and dirty. It’s extremely hurtful, and Kim’s use of it was a microaggression, whether she wants to admit it or not.
Roach-gate Was Just One of the Documented Moments of Kim Zolciak-Biermann’s Racism
There was also another infamous situation known to RHOA fans as “Roach-gate”. This situation stemmed from Kim’s daughter taking video in NeNe’s new home, during which some bugs were seen on the footage. Kim then said that NeNe’s house was a roach nest, which plays into the “Black people are poor and dirty” stereotype. NeNe even pinpointed the connotation of her words later on in the season, saying, “It sounds very racial when you are speaking to an African-American person and talk about roaches. Because people feel like you associated that with the ghetto or trash. Black people do not receive that very well.”
Roach-gate was addressed later in Season 10 during the reunion, during which the other housewives aired their grievances and tried to explain how her remarks were racist. Kim denied this and felt that the ladies, who are Black and have lived the Black American experience, were “reaching”. And yet, in the past, she also referred to a neighborhood that Kandi Burruss moved into as “ghetto” and “hood” when it was obviously not. After being called out for something similar in the past, it was clear that Kim had not learned from that experience, which is why Roach-gate became an issue later on.
What Kim Zolciak-Biermann’s Attendance at a Jason Aldean Concert Tells RHOA Fans
While there are additional instances of Kim’s racial insensitivity, it’s time to address the issue at hand; the Jason Aldean concert. Aldean has recently made headlines for his new song, “Try That In A Small Town”. Aldean released the song with the following message on his social media, “When u grow up in a small town, it’s that unspoken rule of ‘we all have each other’s backs and we look out for each other.’ It feels like somewhere along the way, that sense of community and respect has gotten lost. Deep down we are all ready to get back to that. I hope my new music video helps y’all know that u are not alone in feeling that way. Go check it out!” The song’s lyrics, however, are less about a community coming together to take care of each other, and more about inciting violence. An example of this is seen in a portion of the lyrics here:
“Got a gun that my granddad gave me
They say one day they’re gonna round up
Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck
Try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town
Full of good ol’ boys, raised up right
If you’re looking for a fight
Try that in a small town
Try that in a small town”
These lyrics make no mention of community or respect. It should also be noted that there is not one instance of a lyric within the song talking about people in a small town caring for their own and embracing those down-home Christian values. Nope, the song’s main focus seems to be to intimidate and degrade. The music video originally showed footage from the George Floyd protests in 2020, when people were protesting his murder by police, but was soon removed after the initial outcry. That choice of imagery says a lot; as this was related to a specific issue of civil rights and social injustice.
Why not pull imagery from the riot that occurred in Philadelphia after the Eagles lost in 2023? There’s also the riot that occurred in 2006 in Pittsburgh after the Steelers won the Super Bowl. In fact, there are countless examples of sports riots occurring in the US that happened due to a professional sports team winning or losing. Countless footage of pointless violence, and yet what is chosen is from protests against police brutality? This is not a coincidence, in fact, it is extremely purposeful given the first few lyrics in the song seen here:
“Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk
Carjack an old lady at a red light
Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store
Ya think it’s cool, well, act a fool if ya like
Cuss out a cop, spit in his face
Stomp on the flag and light it up
Yeah, ya think you’re tough”
What adds to the racist connotations within the song is the fact that the music video was filmed on the site where a horrendous lynching occurred in 1927. A Twitter user noticed this and called it out immediately, stating, “Jason Aldean shot this at the site where a white lynch mob strung Henry Choate up at the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn., after dragging his body through the streets with a car in 1927. That’s where Aldean chose to sing about murdering people who don’t respect police.” While Aldean denied that this location was not chosen on purpose, it is a difficult coincidence to deny. And then of course there are the allusions to Sundown Towns, which still exist, places in which it is not safe for Black people to be seen after the sun went down.
So, Kim Zolciak-Biermann and her daughter attending his concert after all of this recent controversy feels like an unsurprising slap in the face to RHOA fans. Not once did she come out to condemn that song, nor as she even tried to say, “Hey the song is terrible, but we went to the concert because we like his other music”. She, instead, proudly posted that she and her daughter had a great time at the concert, which was insanely tone-deaf. It is another moment of her actions speaking louder than her words, and until she can truly prove otherwise by taking ownership of her past actions and acknowledging them for what they are, RHOA viewers will continue to call a spade a spade.
