Billy Ray Cyrus Defends Beyoncé Amid CMA Awards Snub

Billy Ray Cyrus was stunned that Beyoncé failed to garner a single nomination at the CMA Awards despite breaking records with her chart-topping album.

On Wednesday (November 20), the veteran country singer, whose daughter Miley Cyrus collaborated with Beyoncé on “II Most Wanted,” shared his thoughts on the nominees just hours before the ceremony. While the snub made headlines when the nominations were announced in September, Billy Ray Cyrus brought Beyoncé’s COWBOY CARTER album back to the forefront.

Before getting to the Beyoncé snub, Billy Ray Cyrus seemingly shaded the CMA for not broadcasting his 2019 win with Lil Nas X.

“Congratulations to ALL @cma nominees! I’m so happy and proud to see country music opening their doors and format to be inclusive to all people, all styles,” he began. “@lilnasx and I won this award in 2019 for Event Of The Year… but you wouldn’t have seen it because they didn’t air it in the show.”

Billy Ray Cyrus then turned to Beyoncé. “I was surprised to see @beyonce wasn’t nominated???” he added. “Her album was brilliant… her single ruled. But she knows that. She doesn’t need a trophy from the CMA… or permission …. or approval from any of their judges.”

He concluded with a Muhammad Ali quote, noting, “When ya knock em out…. Ya don’t need no judge.”

Beyoncé made history with “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM,” one of the biggest country music hits of the year. She topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for 10 consecutive weeks, marking the second longest-running No. 1 hit of 2024 and becoming the first Black woman ever to do so.

COWBOY CARTER was equally impactful, leading Billboard’s country album chart for four weeks, another first for a Black woman.

Beyoncé’s Father Weighs In On CMA Awards Snub

Beyonce’s father, Mathew Knowles, believes the CMA Awards snub stemmed from the controversy following Beyoncé’s performance with The Chicks at the 2016 award show.

“There’s more white people in America and unfortunately they don’t vote based on ability and achievements,” Knowles said. “It’s still sometimes a white and Black thing.”

Beyoncé revealed that the intense backlash from the 2016 CMA Awards appearance served as the inspiration for COWBOY CARTER.

“It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed,” Beyonce said while announcing the album in March. “It was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive.”