The 2024 Country Music Association (CMA) Awards took place on Wednesday night. Hours before the show, the country music star Billy Ray Cyrus took to Instagram to say that he was “surprised” that Beyoncé was snubbed by the CMAs this year despite the success of her country music album “Cowboy Carter.”
Cyrus Defends Beyoncé
“Congratulations to ALL @cma nominees!” began Cyrus, 63. “I’m so happy and proud to see country music opening their doors and format to be inclusive to all people, all styles. @lilnasx and I won this award in 2019 for Event of the Year… but you wouldn’t have seen it because they didn’t air it in the show.”
“I was surprised to see Beyonce wasn’t nominated???” he continued. “Her album was brilliant… her single rules. But she knows that. She doesn’t need a trophy from the CMA… or permission… or approval from any of their judges.”
Cyrus concluded his post with the Muhammad Ali quote, “When ya knock em out… ya don’t need no judge.”
Backstory: Beyoncé Snubbed At CMA Awards, And Her Fans Are Furious
Beyoncé Snubbed By The CMAs
“Cowboy Carter” was Beyoncé’s eighth studio album, and it was released on March 29, 2024. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making Beyoncé, 43, the first black woman to reach the top of the country albums chart.
Beyoncé’s song “Texas Hold’ Em” reached the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after debuting in the number two position. It went on to reach number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs list, making Beyoncé the first black female artist to have a number one country song.
Despite this, Beyoncé was not nominated for a single CMA Award last night. She was snubbed despite qualifying for CMA categories like single of the year, song of the year, album of the year, female vocalist of the year, and music event of the year. She even qualified for entertainer of the year, but was not able to score a nomination in any category.
Luke Bryan And Dolly Parton Weigh In
Beyoncé’s fans were outraged that she wasn’t nominated for a single CMA Award. However, the country music star Luke Bryan spoke out afterwards to say that he did not believe that she was snubbed.
“Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album,” said Bryan, 48. “Nobody’ mad about it. But where things get a little tricky and, and you know – if you’re gonna make country albums, come into out world and be country with us a little bit.”
“Beyoncé can do it exactly what she wants to,” he added. “She’s probably the biggest star in music. But come to an award show and high-five us, and have fun and get in the family too. And I’m not saying she didn’t do that.”
The legendary Dolly Parton also expressed her belief that Beyoncé wasn’t snubbed.
“Well, you never know. There’s so many wonderful country artists that, I guess probably the country music field, they probably thought, ‘Well, we can’t really leave out some of the ones that spend their whole life doing that,'” Parton, 78, told Variety. “But I didn’t even realize that until somebody asked me that question.”
“I don’t think it was a matter of shutting out, like doing that on purpose,” she continued. “I think it was just more of what the country charts and the country artists were doing, that do that all the time, not just a specialty album.”
Despite Beyoncé not being nominated, the CMAs were still a huge success last night. We’d like to congratulate all of the winners who took home awards during the show!
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