Coming in to defend his fellow ’90s icon.
Many in country music were outraged last night after Sammy Kershaw, the ’90s star behind smash hits like “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful,” “Queen of My Double Wide Trailer,” “Vidalia” and more, revealed that the CMA Awards had denied his request to walk the red carpet at this year’s upcoming ceremony.
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?”
Later in the statement, Kershaw called the decision from the CMAs “extremely hurtful, embarrassing and very disappointing”
“I love country music, but never in a million years would I think that a successful country music entertainer (and I’m not the only one) would not be able to walk the red carpet. It’s extremely hurtful, embarrassing and very disappointing. I guess the next time I attend the CMA’s, it will be in tribute after I’m gone, if I’m lucky.”
Upon Kershaw’s posting, many of his 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.
Of course, the entire thing is about more than Sammy Kershaw himself. It’s easy to say that he’s no longer a mainstream hitmaker, and that they have to limit the number of people on the red carpet and “make difficult decisions” or however they decide to explain it (if they do).
But Kershaw, along with countless others, has paved the way for the artists who are nominated for these awards. Hell, he was even nominated for the Horizon Award (now titled New Artist of the Year) in 1993. Instead of honoring an icon that was nominated by the association in the past and scored ten Top 10 hits throughout his career, his spot will more than likely go to “zero talent” influencers (as Megan Patrick put it), celebrities with no ties to the genre and others who are undoubtedly less deserving than the “Queen of My Double Wide Trailer” singer.
As the internet and country artists continue to outrage over the CMA’s decision and subsequently defend Kershaw, his fellow ’90s star, Mark Chesnutt, gave one of the most scathing criticisms of Kershaw’s rejection we’ve seen so far.
In a now-viral Facebook post, which has garnered over 28,000 likes, Chesnutt would rip into the CMAs. Claiming that they don’t care about the “old ’90s guys” such as himself and Kershaw, he’d point out the fact that they always make room for non-country artists and celebrities.
“So Sammy Kershaw won’t be allowed to walk the red carpet at the the big CMA Awards. Well that’s about right. The CMA doesn’t care about us old ’90s guys any more. It’s a shame they don’t respect the stars that dominated the charts in the past thirty years or before that but they sure roll out the welcome mat for pop stars and Hollywood movie stars and even hip hop artists. Anything but country music gets the performance spots on the show.”
Additionally, he’d compare country to rock, arguing that the rock genre honors its history, while country music forgets about it. Chesnutt would also take aim at executives in the genre, pointing out that they “seem to ignore its rich history and its legends.”
“Rock n Roll honors its history and respects its legends while country music industry executives seem to ignore its rich history and its legends. Thank God there’s still a lot of people that love traditional country music. They keep coming to our shows and showing their love and respect for the music we’ve made for nearly forty years now and we’ll keep working for them and not for those who don’t matter to US! -MC”
It’s hard to argue any point that Chesnutt brings up here.
Legends like both him and Kershaw unfortunately aren’t going to be around forever, and there’s no doubt that when he’s gone the CMAs will rush to honor him and his contributions to country music. It’s nothing short of a disservice to him and many other “forgotten” country legends that will undoubtedly be “honored” after the fact while their ignored in the present.
