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Did Carrie Underwood Cry After the CMAs Snub?

by
  • Arden is a Senior Country Music Journalist for Country Thang Daily, specializing in classic hits and contemporary chart-toppers.
  • Prior to joining Country Thang Daily, Arden wrote for Billboard and People magazine, covering country music legends and emerging artists.
  • Arden holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Tennessee, with a minor in Music Studies.

Controversy has definitely been swirling around the startling announcement of Garth Brooks being this year’s Entertainer of the Year, and more issues arise. It seems that Carrie Underwood was crying after she wasn’t crowned Entertainer of the Year!

cry via CTD

Did Carrie Underwood Cry?

The 2019 CMA Awards stage could not have been more perfectly set for Carrie Underwood to be crowned Entertainer of the Year

After Reese Witherspoon announced Brooks being the ubiquitous winner of the most prestigious award for the night, the trio of powerhouse female hosts stepped back on the stage to say a few final words.

Carrie Underwood, Carrie, Underwood, Cry
via CNN

But as Dolly Parton, Reba, and Carrie closed out the show, viewers at home noticed something heartbreaking: It looked like Carrie was tearing up.

Well, country music is a male-dominated genre, and it wasn’t a surprise that Garth Brooks was crowned the Entertainer of the Year. It was as if the whole night was full of tokenistic movements to “celebrate” women, only to not have the crown sitting on top of a woman’s head.

Indeed, 2019 felt like Underwood’s year to win CMA Entertainer of the Year, a victory that would have been her first in the category and the first for a female artist since 2011. Miranda Lambert and Runaway June, among others, were stumping for her.

It’s not a mysterious committee that makes the picks; it’s the nominated artists’ peers, co-workers, employees, and bosses. It’s, in large part, the people who organizations such as Change the Conversation and WOMAN Nashville are speaking to as they push to correct the gender imbalance within the genre.

Regardless of how she felt after losing, it looked to us like Carrie handled the situation like the superstar she is. Did she actually cry? Who knows. But as one fan pointed out, “at least she’ll cry pretty.”

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