Beyoncé Snubbed By Country Music Awards: Are They Racist?

Beyoncé has been left out of this year’s Country Music Award (CMA) nominations, despite her single Texas Hold ‘Em spending 10 weeks at the top of the Billboard country music charts.

The absence of the pop icon from the nominations has sparked debate over her rocky relationship with the CMAs, dating back to 2016 when her performance with The Chicks was met with backlash and accusations of racism.

So, are there racist undertones to the nominations, and has Queen Bey been snubbed?

On today’s episode of The Briefing, we speak to Grammy-considered recording artist, corporate crisis fixer, and podcast host of The Antoinettes, Azure Antoinette, to unpack it all.

Beyoncé’s album Cowboy Carter, released earlier this year, was hailed by fans and industry experts as a notable entry in the country music genre. 

However, Beyoncé herself has referred to the record as a “Beyoncé album”, distancing it from a strict country label.

“The CMAs, the Country Music Awards, are an old institution, and it’s an institution that has really shown their lack of diversity, if you will, in recent years,” Antoinette said.

The CMA nominations, decided by 7,300 members of the Country Music Association, did not include Beyoncé, despite her commercial success. 

Antoinette says the CMAs have a “massive undercurrent of racism and exclusion.”

“That is baked into their fabric for sure,” Antoinette adds.

She also says Beyoncé is not only proud of her African American heritage, but also of the Western roots she grew up with and calls home. 

“So she is allowed to do whatever she wants and allowed to switch it up.”

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