The side-eye heard round the (country music) world.
In case you missed it (you probably missed it), the American Music Awards were held Monday night in Las Vegas, the first time the awards show had been held since 2022 while parent company Dick Clark Productions instead focused on their annual Billboard Music Awards.
The AMAs are a fan-voted awards show, which is how we ended up with Beyonce and Post Malone taking home the top two awards in the country music categories. But the most viral moment of the show came not from the performances or the awards (which goes to show you how much people care about the AMAs) but from an awkward moment while Shaboozey and Megan Moroney were presenting the award for Favorite Country Duo or Group.
The award ultimately went to Dan + Shay if you care, but before announcing the nominees Moroney and Shaboozey were reading from their viral script when one line from Moroney in particular seemed to rub the “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” singer the wrong way:
“That same year, favorite female artist went to Lynn Anderson, and this award went to the Carter Family, who basically invented country music.”
Shaboozey shot Megan Moroney a side-eye before continuing on with the presentation:
Of course the context is that, especially since Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album, the narrative that “African Americans invented country music” has gained a lot of traction, and Shaboozey clearly felt that saying the Carter Family “basically invented country music” was giving credit to a white family instead.
And I’m not here to get into the history of country music or debate who “invented” country music. Country music wasn’t “invented,” but rather was evolved from roots in Appalachia, Ireland, Scotland, African-American folk songs, and a whole host of other influences. The Carter Family, of course, is nicknamed “The First Family of Country Music” after becoming one of the first commercially successful country acts, but the music itself was influenced by countless artists before them.
Anyway, after the viral moment at the AMA Awards, Shaboozey took to social media to clarify what he meant:
And trolls began taking to Moroney’s latest Instagram post to criticize her for the comment – despite the fact that she was obviously reading from a script and didn’t write the line herself:
“Now why you got on that stage and lied and said them little Carter family made country music know your history”
“Do ur research on who actually created the genre ur in and realize it was stolen like everything else yall love to claim yall created”
“Black people created country music”
“Carter family Basically invented country music??? So just forget Lesley Riddle huh. And to think I literally play your music everydayyyy. Not anymore Love”
“You know a black man taught the Carter family country music….”
But Shaboozey wasn’t having it, coming to Moroney’s defense and praising her as both a person and a country artist:
“Just want to clear something up: my reaction at the AMAs had nothing to do with Megan Moroney! She’s an incredibly talented, hard-working artist who’s doing amazing things for country music and I’ve got nothing but respect for her.
I’ve seen some hateful comments directed at her today, and that’s not what this moment was about. Let’s not twist the message – she is amazing and someone who represents the country community in the highest light!”
What a mess.
