Incase ya haven’t heard, the CMA Awards are tonight.
Yes, yes, I know, the ceremonies have been a yawn for the past few years, especially now that they feel the need to integrate pop artists and other celebrities into the ceremony performances every year (which Justin Moore points to as the reason why ratings have been dropping like flies, but that’s a different story).
However, there have been some wild CMA Awards moments over the years, and I find myself today going back and revisiting them.
With that being said, we can’t forget about the time Garth Brooks withdrew from the CMA Entertainer of the Year Award contention in 2020 after winning the award for the seventh time back in 2019.
Incase ya don’t remember, the previous year was when Eric Church got absolutely ROBBED, and you could make the argument that Carrie deserved it as well.
Not to mention, it was only two years removed from when Church blasted Brooks for lip-syncing at the CMA Awards.
So, you can imagine true country music fans, and Eric Church fans in particular, were outraged when Chief got snubbed for G.
So the following year, on July 29th 2020, ol’ Garth decided to remove his name from the ballot for EOTY, which was pretty weak, considering the US was in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic and nobody could play live shows anyways.
He said in a virtual press conference:
“It’s time for somebody else to hold that award.”
While also mentioning that younger musicians were “out there busting their butts.”
He also mentioned that fans complaining on Twitter played a role in his withdrawal as well, saying:
“There was one tweet in there that really stuck in my head. It said, ‘Hey, man. This guy, why doesn’t he step down (and leave) the entertainer … for the next generation?’ 100% agree.”
He closed it out with:
“So with all the love in the world, all the gratefulness, because the last thing I want to do is seem ungrateful to the CMAs and everybody that has voted for us, we are officially pulling ourselves out of entertainer of the year.”
Of course, Eric Church went on to win the next year, and Luke Combs, the year after that.
This year’s nominees include Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, and Chris Stapleton.
The CMA’s kicks off at 8/7 Central on ABC.
