Photo Credit: CMA Awards
Country singer Maren Morris says she may skip the CMAs this year, despite being nominated for album of the year.
Her social media feud with country singer Jason Aldean’s wife has been at the forefront of the conversation over the last few months. Maren Morris was one of the voices to speak out over comments Brittany Aldean made on Instagram to her 2.3 million followers. “I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase,” Brittany wrote in the caption.
Following comments made by singer Cassadee Pope, Maren Morris replied saying, “It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human?” The whole online episode exploded when Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show brought on Brittany to speak about the issue. “I think that children should not be allowed to make these life-changing decisions at such a young age,” Aldean told Carlson. Carlson replied, calling Morris a ‘lunatic’ and “a country music person who I hope leaves country music immediately.”
Maren Morris began selling t-shirts with the slogan ‘Lunatic Country Music Person’ on her website. She donated more than $150,000 to Trans Lifeline and GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program following the whole fiasco. Morris says she’ll no longer sit by while people feel they can be “transphobic, homophobic, and racist” wrapped in a joke.
When asked if she ran the initial tweet by anyone before she posted it, Morris says no. “I hate feeling like I need to be the hall monitor of treating people like human beings in country music,” she told The Los Angeles Times. “It’s exhausting. But there’s a very insidious culture of people feeling very comfortable being transphobic and homophobic and racist, and that they can wrap it in a joke and no one will ever call them out for it. It just becomes normal for people to behave like that.”
When asked if she’ll attend the CMAs this year on November 9, the singer confirmed she might not.
“I’m very honored that my record is nominated. But I don’t know if I feel [at] home right there now. So many people I love will be in that room, and maybe I’ll make a game-time decision and go. But as of right now, I don’ feel comfortable going.”