Oh thank God. The CMT Awards are not, at the very least for now, and certain perpetually. And it couldn’t have come sooner, or to a extra deserving presentation. Nation music’s ugly stepchild of an awards present was a discussion board for a few of the most embarrassing moments from B-level stars through the years, and now hopefully these meaningless awards will find yourself proper the place they belong: the dustbin of historical past.
From Zac Brown’s bizarre F-Bomb amid the cratering of his profession, to Kelsea Ballerini’s compelled Drag Queen story hour efficiency in 2023—like merely presenting Drag Queens on a rustic present will miraculously make homophobes change their stripes—to Jelly Roll’s shake shack preacher sermons full with alligator tears for an award no person offers a $hit about, it had all grow to be downright inadvertently comical.
We knew this was most likely coming after the newest spherical of bloodletting at CMT, which included the corporate’s excessive profile Senior Vice President, Leslie Fram, and different prime expertise. The cuts got here amid the cost-cutting doom cycle that the cable community has been affected by for years now, divesting in unique content material versus doubling down on it.
An impending merger of CMT’s mother or father firm Paramount International with David Ellison’s Skydance Media has accelerated price cuts as they give the impression of being to shed $500 million in overhead forward of the merger. Although the corporate has promised to not contact MTV’s VMA Awards, which proceed to be a cultural second, or Nickelodeon’s Child’s Selection Awards, all of their different awards are getting the axe, together with the CMTs based on an inner memo.
One of many worst elements of the CMT Awards was how media exterior of nation music (and a few dyslexic nation followers) by no means may inform the distinction between them and the a lot older and honored Nation Music Affiliation Awards, or CMAs. Not that on a nasty yr the CMAs are something to jot down residence about or be happy with as a rustic fan both. However at the very least there was some historical past and which means behind them.
As fan-voted awards that centered round movies, the CMT Awards all the time had a credibility drawback by not with the ability to draw prime expertise, and in recent times, being fully out of step with nation followers by making an attempt to drive company HR-style range initiatives upon a fan base who simply weren’t having it. The CMT Awards was a centerpiece of June’s CMA Fest in Nashville, however unusually moved to Austin the final couple of years the place they had been much more out-of-place.
Hypothetically, you might hint the awards again to the outdated Music Metropolis Information Awards launched in 1967, which then turned the fan-voted Viewers’ Selection Awards airing on TNN in 1988. Then in 2001, they moved to sister community CMT, and by 2002, they had been fully retooled round movies and have become the fan-voted CMTs. However any and all historical past was bled out of the awards via the assorted iterations. Each time a legendary nation performer handed, few if anybody would cite what number of CMT Awards they accrued like they’d CMAs, or ACM Awards.
In the end, the CMT Awards simply turned a distraction in nation, and appeared to devalue all nation music awards that turned much more redundant and ubiquitous when NBC and the Grand Ole Opry launched their ill-conceived Folks’s Selection Nation Awards, and it’s 17 nominations for Beyoncé final cycle (she received 0 of the fan-voted awards). The CMT’s allegedly tried to offer Beyoncé an award in 2024 as nicely, inventing one out of complete fabric to entice her to the presentation. Beyoncé declined.
It’s truthful to query how lengthy for the world all music awards exhibits are, however the CMTs all the time appeared like an excessively dumb train. At the least nation music’s 2nd tier expertise will perpetually have a helpful weight every time brisk bursts of wind threaten to blow papers off of desks. However apart from that, a CMT Award is nearly good for nothing.
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