Social Media Erupts After Cody Johnson’s Producer, Trent Willmon, Appears To Throw Shade At Shaboozey During CMA Awards Acceptance Speech

Aaron Ryan·
COUNTRY MUSIC
·
CMA Awards Cody Johnson Trent Willmon
CMA Awards

Shots fired?

Shaboozey has shaken up country music with his record-setting #1 hit, “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” There’s been plenty of debate about how “country” the song really is, especially given the fact that it’s an interpolation of the song “Tipsy” by J-Kwon. But regardless, there’s no denying it’s been a massive hit.

The New Artist of the Year nominee performed “A Bar Song” earlier in the evening during the CMA Awards, and folks on social media quickly noticed that George Strait looked less than amused…

But he might not have been the only one.

Later in the show, Cody Johnson won Album of the Year for his incredible album Leather. And during his acceptance speech, Cody’s producer Trent Willmon appeared to throw some shade at Shaboozey while complimenting CoJo:

“It takes an army of people to make a great record, but I gotta tell ya, this is for this cowboy who’s been kicking Shaboozey for a lot of years.”

Now, if you’re not familiar with Trent Willmon, he’s an old-school Texas guy who spent some time in Nashville back around 2004, scoring a few charting hits as an artist before deciding to focus on songwriting and producing. (And I’ll admit I was a big fan of his music – he had some incredible songs like “Home Sweet Holiday Inn” and “On Again Tonight.”)

And was he trying to make a joke about Cody kicking “Shabooty” and it just came out wrong? Or was he throwing some not-so-subtle shade at Shaboozey’s brand of pop country?

Who knows, but social media quickly erupted – with some loving it and others calling it disrespectful:

It wasn’t the only awkward moment of the night involving Shaboozey either. Earlier in the show, hosts Lainey Wilson, Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning delivered a half-assed tribute to Toby Keith, holding up red solo cups while reading a few words from a teleprompter before quickly using it to segue into an introduction to Shaboozey’s performance:

“‘Red Solo Cup,’ ‘I Love This Bar,’ I mean Toby had some great bar songs. And speaking of loving a bar, Shaboozey’s ‘A Bar Song’ was a big ol’ hit.”

Yeah, Toby deserved more than that. But then again, it’s about what we’ve grown to expect from a country music awards show that’s light on the country music.

It hasn’t been all bad though. Chris Stapleton has (rightfully) been cleaning up, as he usually does, and he joined in along with Jamey Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Parker McCollum and Lainey Wilson for an all-star tribute to the legendary George Strait that’s been a highlight of the night so far.

But in one of the biggest head-scratchers of the night, many (including all of us here at Whiskey Riff) were both scratching their heads and infuriated after Old Dominion somehow beat out Red Clay Strays for Vocal Group of the Year.

I mean, have these voters even listened to Red Clay Strays? Criminal.

That’s the “Country” Music Awards for you. Same shit, different year.

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