In February 2021, less than a month after country star Morgan Wallen released his second album, Dangerous: The Double Album, he was caught on camera making racist slurs; The consequences were immediate: country radio stations banned his music and his label suspended him. The backlash had little effect on Wallen’s commercial success—in fact, many fans rallied around him, causing Dangerous’s sales to rise over 1,000 percent and eventually go double platinum—but the album was not nominated for most awards, including a Grammy in this one. year. Awards.
However, on Monday at the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards, Wallen took home the awards for Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year, with Dangerous actually winning the latter category. It was Wallen’s first major award since the N-word controversy, and while he did not mention the controversy in his acceptance speech (other than a vague thanks to his supportive fan base and “everyone who has shown me grace along the way”), Country fans on social media have mostly definitely turned to it.
ACM viewers on Twitter were divided. Some argued that Wallen deserved Album of the Year and gleefully declared his victory a blow to “cancellation culture”:
Other fans were furious that the “racist” was forgiven so quickly, as Wallen was effectively declared unfit at last year’s ACM Awards due to the scandal:
In addition, many tweeters noticed that country star Maren Morris — an ally who dedicated her 2020 Female Artist of the Year award at another major ceremony, the Country Music Association Awards, to black women in country music — did not applaud when Wallen won Album of the year”. Year. However, public opinion was also mixed on this issue.
While Wallen obviously remains a controversial figure in country music, his 2021 scandal did draw attention to the need for more diversity and inclusion in the country genre. Thankfully, the performance was a big part of Monday’s ACMs Awards, which featured several black country acts including co-host Jimmy Allen, Breland, Britney Spencer, Kane Brown and Mickey Guyton.
The story goes on
The 57th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Dolly Parton, took place Monday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and streamed live on Amazon Prime. Below is the full list of 2022 winners:
Artist of the Year: Miranda Lambert
Female Artist of the Year: Carly Pierce
Male Artist of the Year: Chris Stapleton
Album of the Year: Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album
Single of the Year: Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood, “If I Didn’t Love You”
Song of the Year: Lainey Wilson, “Things a Man Oughta Know”
New Female Artist of the Year: Lainie Wilson
New Male Artist of the Year: Parker McCollum
Duo of the Year: The Osborne Brothers
Band of the Year: Old Dominion
Video of the Year: El King and Miranda Lambert, Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)
Songwriter of the Year: Michael Hardy
Musical Event of the Year: Carly Pierce and Ashley McBride, “Never Wanted to Be That Girl”
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