Just days out from the 2024 edition of the CMA Awards, Billy Ray Cyrus has weighed in on the debate surrounding Beyoncé‘s absence from the list of nominees.
Cyrus is one of many to react to the singer’s CMA snub, which typically awards nominees who fit within the country music genre. While much of her discography is considered pop music, Beyoncé’s most recent album, Cowboy Carter, was a clear turn into country music, and was undoubtedly the most successful country album of the year. The album’s lead single, “Texas Hold ‘Em”, reached number one on the Billboard charts, but the album’s mainstream appeal didn’t correlate to any CMA nominations.
Taking to Instagram to respond to the snub, Cyrus said he was “surprised to see that [Beyoncé] wasn’t nominated.” The country music singer praised Cowboy Carter as “brilliant,” and said “Texas Hold ‘Em” “ruled.” While he was shocked by Beyoncé’s absence, Cyrus said he doubts that the singer is too fussed by her exclusion, since she “doesn’t need a trophy” to validate her album’s success. Cyrus said Beyoncé doesn’t need “permission or approval from any” of the ceremony’s judges and even quoted Mohammed Ali when explaining the non-necessity that is accolades and awards for an artist like Beyoncé. “When ya knock em out, Ya don’t need no judge,” he wrote.
Cyrus was also surprised by the Beyoncé snub because the CMAs have gradually been “opening their doors and format to be inclusive to all people, all styles.” As evidence of this, he cited his own win in the ceremony’s Event Of The Year category in 2019, an award he shared with Lil Nas X for their remixed version of “Old Town Road.” If you recall, however, the pair’s win did not air during that year’s broadcast of the ceremony, which is why Cyrus said “you wouldn’t have seen” them collecting the award.
Cyrus — whose daughter and fellow musician Miley Cyrus appeared as a featured artist on Cowboy Carter — isn’t the only celebrity who has reacted to Beyoncé’s snub. Kelly Clarkson said the exclusion was “fascinating” because songs from Cowboy Carter “were everywhere,” but admitted that Beyoncé didn’t “even need the award” since she’s “killing it, regardless.” For his part, Shaboozey — who appeared on Cowboy Carter and is up for two awards at the ceremony — said the situation is “definitely unfortunate,” while Beyoncé’s dad, Mathew Knowles, said that race might have been a factor.
“It’s still sometimes a white and black thing,” Knowles said of the voting system behind the CMA nominations, adding that Beyoncé’s snub shows that “it still comes down to white and black.” Beyoncé’s absence from the list stung particularly for fans, since she had said that Cowboy Carter was inspired by an experience where she “did not feel welcomed” at a country music event, which many took as a reference to the CMAs.
While she never confirmed it to be the origin of the album, Beyoncé faced backlash from conservative country music fans after her 2016 performance at the CMAs, with many saying she was unworthy to grace the stage given her pop music roots. In any case, Beyoncé certainly isn’t in an award drought, with her recent sweep of the 2025 Grammy nominations seeing her surpass her husband, Jay Z, as the most nominated artist in Grammys history.