You didn’t expect him to actually be there did you?
Morgan Wallen is famously not a fan of awards shows, generally choosing (smartly) to stay home rather than go through the whole pomp and circumstance of the shows.
Of course despite being the biggest artist in country music, Morgan usually ends up getting snubbed by awards shows anyway, so you can’t really blame him for not wanting to be there just to give them a ratings boost.
Unsurprisingly, Wallen was not in attendance at this month’s Academy of Country Music Awards, marking the third consecutive year he’s been absent. I mean, what’s the point of participating if you’re selling out stadiums, shattering chart records and selling millions of albums and you’re never going to be rewarded for it?
At this point in his career, it’s pretty clear that Wallen has little to no desire to engage with either the ACM or CMA Awards. Famously, back in 2024 when he took home his first and only Entertainer of the Year at the CMAs, he was not only not present at the ceremony but also barely acknowledged the win itself. Instead of thanking the CMAs or making a post celebrating the win, Wallen would instead post a sideways photo of the trophy on the seventh slide of an Instagram post four months after winning.
And after the ACM Awards once again snubbed him this year, Morgan and his friend and fellow artist HARDY even threw some shade at the increasingly-irrelevant awards show…
So it was no surprise that Morgan wasn’t in attendance last night at the American Music Awards (honestly I had no idea they were going on, or who was nominated) when Morgan took home the award for Best Male Country Artist.
The American Music Awards are fan-voted, with nominees based on chart performance and sales data, so they’re arguably a better reflection of what fans are actually listening to than most awards shows. But regardless, Morgan apparently had no interest in being there – which drew some jokes from presenter and comedian Matt Rife.
The viral comedian was on hand to present the award for Breakthrough Country Artist (which went to Sam Barber), and he faked the crowd out by announcing that Morgan was in attendance:
“Making his very first AMA appearance, Morgan Wallen.”
The camera then cut to a guy with a mullet who bears a (very) slight resemblance to Morgan, with Matt then joking about his hatred for awards shows:
“I’m kidding. Why would you even look? Of course that’s not him. He hates awards shows. He’ll never be here. He’s too busy selling out two shows on the moon, right now.”
I mean, kinda sums up the absurdity of other awards shows not recognizing Morgan while he’s busy selling out stadiums…
@accordingtocaity Who was that guy? The moon tickets would be cheaper than what I paid for 2 tickets in June. Morgan…do better! #amas #americanmusicawards #mattrife #morganwallen
Along with Morgan, several other country artists took home awards last night. Ella Langley won the fan-voted award for Best Female Country Artist, while Zac Brown Band was named Best Country Duo or Group. Meanwhile Megan Moroney won Best Country Album for Cloud 9, while Ella Langley won Best Country Song for “Choosin’ Texas.”
