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Morgan Wallen Takes A Shot At The CMA Awards During Surprise Appearance With Ella Langley At The Ryman
Honestly, this is a better excuse to be on Broadway anyway.
The 2025 CMA Awards are coming up in just a week and a half, and Morgan Wallen is seeking to defend his title of Entertainer of the Year.
Or is he?
Morgan was a no-show at last year’s awards ceremony despite winning the night’s top prize, and hasn’t really addressed his Entertainer of the Year win over the past year. He’s nominated in the category once again, alongside Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, Cody Johnson and Lainey Wilson. But from the comments he made last night, it sounds like Morgan still doesn’t really care about the awards show.
The country music superstar made a surprise appearance with Ella Langley last night during her headlining show at the Ryman Auditorium, just steps away from Bridgestone Arena where the CMA Awards will take place on November 19. If you’re expecting Morgan to be in attendance this year though, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Ella told the crowd that she had been trying to get Morgan out to perform with her at one of her shows for a while now, and Morgan responded by taking a shot at the awards show:
“It takes a lot more than an awards show to get me out to Broadway these days, I’ll tell you that.”
The two then performed a duet of “Cover Me Up,” the Jason Isbell song that became a massive hit for Wallen, that left fans begging for the two to record a duet of the song together:
@hanleyriggs
UMMM… @morganwallen came out with @Ella Langley singing “Cover Me Up”#morganwallen #ellalangley
♬ original sound – Hanley Riggs
Of course it’s no surprise that Morgan doesn’t really care about the CMA Awards given his complicated relationship with the “Country Music’s Biggest Night.”
In 2021, the country music superstar was banned from the attending the show after he was caught on video earlier that year dropping a racial slur. The next year, he performed his song “You Proof” on the show but walked away empty-handed after being nominated in three categories, including Entertainer of the Year.
And in 2023, Morgan was once again snubbed for Entertainer of the Year, despite having the biggest album and tour of the year – and his fans let the CMAs hear about it.
Morgan took to Instagram shortly after the ceremony to address being left out of the winners circle yet agian:
And the following weekend, he took at thinly-veiled shot at the CMA Awards when he had a monster night at the Billboard Music Awards, taking home 11 trophies including Top Male Artist:
“You know, like the song says, you win some you lose some. And last award show I went to, we came home empty handed, and this one, I don’t have enough hands for them all.”
But Morgan later admitted that it bothered him that he left empty-handed at the CMA Awards, especially after the year he had in 2023:
“Bothered me for like five minutes. And then I’m like, ‘Why am I mad? I’m about to go play for 80,000 people in Atlanta.’”
(Remember, that was the year he released One Thing At A Time, which was the biggest album of the year, and was selling out stadiums on his One Night At A Time tour while pretty much every single he released was shooting to the top of the charts).
So yeah, it’s not really any surprise that Morgan doesn’t care much about awards shows these days. And honestly, why would he? What is an award going to do for his career at this point that Morgan hasn’t already proven he can do for himself?
Morgan is in a completely different category of artist right now, undeniably the biggest name in country music. The CMA Awards need him a lot more than he needs them. And it sounds like that’s a game Morgan has no interest in playing.
Good for him.
Morgan Wallen x Ella Langley // https://t.co/hm9LHw1Tsk pic.twitter.com/xbyeswi3C2
— Whiskey Riff (@WhiskeyRiff) November 8, 2025
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