On 14 January 2014, Arthur confirmed on
Twitter that "Get Down" would be the fourth single to be released from
his debut album. The track premiered online on 20 January 2014. Prior to the release of "Get Down", Arthur had generated much controversy in November 2013, over the use of
homophobic lyrics in a song. Micky Worthless, a
Croydon battle rapper, had issued "Stay in Your Lane", a track mocking Arthur, because Worthless did not feel it was right that Arthur was presenting himself as a battle rapper on national radio. Arthur had responded to Worthless with his vitriolic
diss track "Hey Mickey" issuing string of slurs directed at Worthless, rapping "Hilarious, precarious you
Talibani confused, imbellic mimic of a gimmick" adding the homophobic slur "You fucking
queer". This sparked outrage among the
LGBT community and led to Twitter spats with comedians
Frankie Boyle and
Matt Lucas, and singer
Lucy Spraggan. Arthur immediately apologised for his comments and claimed that he was not homophobic. Following this, he announced that he would not be posting on Twitter anymore, with his management taking up control of his page. The backlash continued, however, with a
Facebook campaign to see his upcoming appearance on
The X Factor be cancelled. Many radio stations were reluctant to play the song "Get Down" due to controversy over Arthur. Several stations even blacklisted the song. This led to very weak sales for the single "Get Down". In defense of Arthur, an online petition was launched on the website
Change.org in a bid to get Arthur some airplay. The petition stated that Arthur is "a talented singer who needs to be heard" and urged
BBC Radio 1 to play "Get Down". The petition was signed by over 830 people. The single only made it to number 96 on the
UK Singles Chart.
iTunes offered refunds for Arthur's debut album
James Arthur due to complaints from customers. Arthur performed it live in an
acoustic session and published it on 5 November 2013 in his own
YouTube channel titled "Get Down (Acoustic)". He also performed it live in a duo with contestant Shem Thomas during
The Voice of Switzerland in 2014. Arthur has included the song in his later concerts despite the single not making much impact when released. ==Music video==