One of the biggest uncertainties going into the CMAs had nothing to do with award wins — it was whether country star Maren Morris would even attend the show. Morris previously said she didn’t “feel comfortable†with being at the event after a public fight over trans rights with Jason Aldean’s wife, Brittany. But Morris added in a September interview with the Los Angeles Times, “Maybe I’ll make a game-time decision and go.†So did she? Morris attended the show and was shown cheering after Album of the Year was awarded. She did not appear to walk the red carpet. Morris’s publicists did not respond to a request for comment on her attendance. For her part, Brittany also showed up to the awards, posing on the red carpet with her husband.
Morris’s decision goes back to late August, when Brittany Aldean posted an Instagram video mocking trans children. Morris replied to a tweet from singer Cassadee Pope also criticizing the video, writing, “It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human? Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.†(Aldean often shares her far-right views on Instagram and supported the January 6 riot.) That ballooned into a feud between Morris and Aldean, with Aldean even criticizing Morris on Tucker Carlson Tonight. After Carlson called Morris a “lunatic country music person,†she turned it into a T-shirt with proceeds going to trans support. “I think there are people in country music that want it to be niche,†Morris later told the Times of the issue. “They don’t want it to expand. They don’t care about it becoming more inclusive. It’s theirs, and everyone else is an other, or woke, or whatever. That’s sad to me, because I feel like country music at its core is people’s real stories.â€
Morris is nominated for Album of the Year for Humble Quest, and she told the Times she’s “very honored.†She previously won the award for her album Girl in 2019 and most recently won three awards in 2020, including Female Vocalist of the Year. Her decision comes after the CMAs notoriously declared the show would be a “no-drama zone†in 2020 after the presidential election and in the heat of the pandemic. Ironically, one of this year’s hosts, Luke Bryan, just supported Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, at a concert.
Correction: This post has been updated to note that Morris did attend the ceremony but did not walk the red carpet.