In case ya haven’t heard, the CMA Awards are right around the corner.
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, so of course we have to revisit some of the best.
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.
In case you don’t remember, 2019 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.
Well 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.”
Garth also mentioned that younger musicians were “out there busting their butts,” while saying that fans complaining on Twitter played a role in his withdrawal as well:
“It made winning Entertainer of the Year not as fun…
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 have Entertainer of the Year be 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, with Luke Combs taking home the night’s top prize the past two years.
This year’s nominees for Entertainer of the Year include Luke Combs once again, alongside Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson…but as he promised, no Garth Brooks this time around.
