Goin’ home empty…
Last night, Lainey Wilson once again took home the coveted ACM Award for Entertainer of the Year, which was a pretty touch category, as she was up against Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton and Morgan Wallen.
Many fans were upset that she won it for the second consecutive year, and you really could make the argument for almost any of the nominated artists and why they deserve to win.
But almost as much as there was online reaction Morgan Wallen losing EOTY, Kelsea Ballerini fans were NOT happy to see her leave the show completely empty-handed after being nominated for three awards in Entertainer of the Year, Female Artist of the Year and Music Event of the Year. Her fans have been pretty vocal for the last several years that they feel Kelsea has been slighted by the academy when it comes to her actually winning many awards.
And it looks like Kelsea herself isn’t too happy about losing either, because she took to her Instagram stories after the to post a meme from the movie Mean Girls, and a line from the movie where character Gretchen Weiners is repeatedly called out for not being popular or having a crush on anyone.
It’s a pretty popular meme, and while Kelsea didn’t add any context and might just be acknowledging it for her fans, I think it’s pretty obvious she was implying that she was upset about the outcome of the awards:
But it wasn’t just Kelsea… Her boyfriend, actor and Outer Banks star Chase Stokes, who left a more direct comment on a video the ACM Awards shared on Instagram of her performance.
The video of her “Baggage” performance was captioned “Kelsea Ballerini, the woman you are,” and he replied, simply saying:
“Lol.”
Of course, he could be laughing at the F-bomb she dropped during the performance or the middle finger she threw, but definitely seems like some shade about the lack of wins.
I mean, I think it’s nice to see him sticking up for his lady, and that they’re not both pretending that they’re not upset she lost. They’re still humans, and country music artists have a tendency to just pretend they’re happy all the time no matter what if they lose at these shows, so it’s kind of refreshing and rare to see an artist as big as Kelsea call out an industry show like this:
Her fans were certainly upset about it all, too:
@thebrunadiaries_ @Kelsea Ballerini was 100% robbed tonight on the ACMs but we’ll always know how she’s the real entertainer of the year ❤️ | no hate to anyone else but Kels really deserved this | #kelseaballerini #kelseaballeriniconcert #kelseaballerinitok #ballerini #countrymusic #country #concerts #awards #fyp ♬ som original – Bruna Caló
@juliana_mizenko ✨RIOTING✨ WHERE MY KB GIRLIES AT?!? 😡 #kelseaballerinitok #kelseaballerini #acmawards #entertaineroftheyear @Kelsea Ballerini ♬ original sound – Julie Mizenko + KB Legend✨
@a.pena2020 ACM TALK! 🎶🏆Also, @Kelsea Ballerini are you okay ❤️ #acmawards #kelseaballerini #meganmoroney #morganwallen #ellalangley #momsover30 #creatorsearchinsights #momsoftiktok #fyp ♬ original sound – Andrea
@l8terl0serz Chelsea Brocoli the women you AREEEEE @Kelsea Ballerini (@ACM Awards take notes. ) #entertaineroftheyear #kelseaballerini ♬ original sound – lex
Not Kelsea Ballerini getting snubbed by country music year after year…she wrote the best 2 albums of her career then followed it up with an arena tour. What else does she have to do to get some recognition?!
— Amanda Jean (@amandathecow) May 9, 2025
Kelsea Ballerini had an arena tour and was a coach on The Voice and they gave entertainer of the year to…. Lainey Wilson?
— C (@taylorfan00) May 9, 2025
Chase Stokes wins best comment and most supportive partner ever. @KelseaCentral @KelseaBallerini pic.twitter.com/Ydfgu0R889
— Amy Knutson (@knutsonamy216) May 9, 2025
Much like how Morgan Wallen has been skipping major award shows for a few years now, it will be interesting to see if Kelsea might start to follow suit considering she’s clearly not pleased with how its going.
And look, Kelsea is pretty damn talented and certainly had the kind of year that catapulted her into the next level of artist. She is an authentic and vulnerable songwriter who still writes all her own songs, she’s a solid performer and entertainer playing arenas, she has a lot of pop crossover appeal… she’s probably the closest thing to Taylor Swift that the genre has seen. But at the same time, Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs are doing football stadiums, Cody Johnson is on a similar trajectory as her, Jelly Roll is becoming a massive star and of course, the winner Lainey Wilson… that is TOUGH competition.
The good news for Kelsea and her fans is that she’s the youngest of the group (same age as Morgan Wallen), and she has a growing, rabid fanbase, and is still on her way up. The only problem is that the industry seems to be swinging back towards the traditional, so she may be up against that from the start. Only time will tell…
Here’s Kelsea’s performance of “Baggage”:
