Not bothered by it.
The 2024 CMA Awards are officially in the history books, and honestly, I’m not sure that there was a lot about the show we’ll remember for very long.
George Strait was honored with a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award, Morgan Wallen won Entertainer of the Year and wasn’t even there to accept it, Chris Stapleton cleaned up as always (which people were somehow mad about), and in a 3 hour show they couldn’t even find time for a proper tribute to the legendary Toby Keith.
If you missed it, you didn’t really miss much.
But one moment that had everybody talking came when Cody Johnson was accepting his award for Album of the Year, which he won for his 2023 album Leather.
During his acceptance speech, Cody’s producer Trent Willmon turned some heads when he seemingly threw some shade at New Artist of the Year nominee Shaboozey:
“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.”
Social media erupted after the comment, with many wondering whether he was making a joke about kicking “Shabooty” or whether it was a dig at the artist’s pop-leaning sound.
what'd that guy say about shaboozey lmaooo cody johnson looked uncomfortable
— cam (@gatorstroll) November 21, 2024
Hey white hat: what kind of little wimp has to shit talk another nominee in his speech? Keep Shaboozey’s name outta your mouth. #CMAawards pic.twitter.com/jUhQkdu9c1
— amanda (@thestunmove) November 21, 2024
Did I really just hear on #CMA that guy say kicking shaboozey?
Can you get more inappropriate?#kickingshaboozey
— Chris Harrod (@thechrisharrod) November 21, 2024
the only thing i can think was cody johnson's producer was trying to make a joke about kicking "booty" and replaced it with shaboozey as a horrible pun that no one found funny lol
— cam (@gatorstroll) November 21, 2024
HOLD ON “kicking Shaboozey” ??? #CMAawards
— Tammy (@Tammad) November 21, 2024
Who knows. Maybe just a joke that didn’t land?
Either way, the moment was a little bit of a head scratcher, but otherwise didn’t really seem like a big deal to me. And it seems that Shaboozey was unbothered by it too.
The “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” singer took to social media after the awards and seemingly addressed the shade that was thrown his way:
“Ain’t nobody kicking me.”
Ain’t nobody kicking me! pic.twitter.com/KLiMpBazBk
— Shaboozey (@ShaboozeysJeans) November 21, 2024
Of course I think Shaboozey is doing just fine without a CMA award. His hit has been the biggest song of 2024, the longest-running #1 song on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart of the year at 18 weeks (and counting), and it landed him four Grammy nominations for Song of the Year, Best Country Song, Best Country Solo Performance and Best New Artist.
He was also nominated for the CMA Award for New Artist of the Year and Single of the Year, though he ultimately walked away empty handed after losing New Artist of the Year to Megan Moroney and Single of the Year to Chris Stapleton’s “White Horse.”
Shaboozey did perform his hit song on stage though, after an awkward introduction from hosts Lainey Wilson, Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning that started out as a tribute to Toby Keith as they raised their red Solo cups before teeing up Shaboozey’s performance of “A Bar Song.”
“‘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.”
And honestly, those may have been the two only slightly memorable portions of the entire show – and I think George Strait’s face during Shaboozey’s performance sums up how I felt about the entire night:
Gives a whole new meaning to "I hate everything."#CMAawards pic.twitter.com/tPMku83Bo8
— Whiskey Riff (@WhiskeyRiff) November 21, 2024
Hey, there’s always next year. Not that I have any hope that it will be significantly better…
