The Country Music Association has finally put out a statement addressing the controversy that spun up when 90s country star, Sammy Kershaw, said he was denied his request to walk the red carpet at this year’s upcoming ceremony.
When that news broke, it rubbed a lot of country music fans the wrong way. Why keep an artist who gave the genre hits like “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful,” “Queen of My Double Wide Trailer,” and “Vidalia” from celebrating country music at the 60th annual CMA Awards?
In a statement shared to his social media, the ’90s country icon expressed his disappointment at being turned away, especially in a year when the CMAs have announced their intention to honor ’90s country:
“Well, I just found out some disappointing news and it really hurts me. I have to share my disappointment with the CMA as they have denied my request to walk the red carpet for a few minutes at this year’s CMA Awards, and I have to say I’m pretty sad about it.
My wife, Mendy, and I don’t get to attend these events very often, due to touring and schedule conflicts. After adjusting my touring schedule, booking our flights and hotels, she was really looking forward to us sharing a special evening together celebrating country music. Then, to find out I was denied the red carpet two weeks before the show, after being strung along for several months and expecting we would be attending, WTF?”
That’s a very warranted “WTF,” if you ask me.
Following Kershaw’s post, many fellow country artists spoke up in his defense in his Instagram comments, including the likes of Riley Green, Carly Pearce, Jake Owen, Meghan Patrick, Ty Herndon, Drew Baldridge (who offered up his red carpet spot) and more. And another ’90s country star – Mark Chesnutt – rolled out a post of his own to rip into the CMAs, boldly saying that ’90s stars aren’t shown respect while “anything but country music gets the performance spots on the show.”
With the noise getting louder and louder around Sammy Kershaw being denied red carpet access at the upcoming event, the Country Music Association put out this statement clarifying that the ’90s star was turned away because of limited space and security reasons:
“In recent days, several artists and their fans have spoken out about this year’s CMA Awards red carpet guidelines. Like any major televised event, the red carpet has criteria that exists to help manage limited space and the security needs for both the artists and the media. We are deeply sorry anyone felt excluded by those decisions.
Our organization’s mission is to honor the history and celebrate the excellence of Country Music. With this 60th anniversary year, we are working extra hard to simultaneously spotlight the last six decades, while also celebrating what has been a tremendous year in 2026. It’s not easy to do all of that in just one night, but we are up for the challenge.
We also know this is about more than a red carpet, and we are committed to keep listening and keep finding ways to make sure all artists feel welcome and at home here. To that point, we are in touch with Sammy Kershaw’s team and look forward to continuing that conversation.”
I wonder how that “continued conversation” with Sammy Kershaw and his team will go…
