Dolly Parton Defended The Country Music Association After Beyonc Was Snubbed

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Beyoncé has received zero nominations at this year's Country Music Awards.Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for iHeartRadioFor context, Beyoncé’s album Cowboy Carter — which was released in March 2024 after five years in the works — was inspired by her not feeling "welcomed" into the country music space.Years before Cowboy Carter dropped, Beyoncé — who is from Houston, Texas — faced unfair criticism from some country music fans after she performed her 2016 country song “Daddy Lessons” with The Chicks at the Country Music Association Awards.Later in 2016, Beyoncé was snubbed by the Grammy Awards' Country Music Committee, per AP News.With all this in mind, several fans were disheartened to see Beyoncé snubbed of award nominations for her country music yet again — especially given how successful Cowboy Carter was.Not only did "Cowboy Carter" spend weeks at No.1 on the Top Country Albums chart, making Beyoncé the first Black woman to achieve this feat, but the lead single, “Texas Hold ‘Em,” also spent weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for The Recording AcademyAccording to the Hollywood Reporter, Beyoncé would have qualified for numerous Country Music Award categories this year, including album and song of the year.Amid growing backlash toward the CMA for snubbing Beyoncé, country music icon Dolly Parton has addressed the subject.Terry Wyatt / WireImageAdvertisement Parton, who featured on "Cowboy Carter" and widely praised Beyoncé’s work, was asked about the "Lemonade" singer receiving zero CMA nominations during a recent interview with Variety.

She replied, “Well, you never know.There’s so many wonderful country artists that, I guess probably the country music field, they probably thought, well, we can’t really leave out some of the ones that spend their whole life doing that.”Ron Jenkins / Getty Images“But it was a wonderful album.

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