Charley Pride Manager Says CMA Critics “Crusading to Stir Up Mud”
Country legend Charley Pride died on December 12th due to complications from COVID-19, and almost immediately after his death was confirmed by representatives, multiple artists and journalists immediately began both speculating and outright blaming the CMA Awards for causing the 86-year-old’s passing.
“I don’t want to jump to conclusions because no family statement has been made. But if this was a result of the CMAs being indoors, we should all be outraged,” Maren Morris said in a now deleted Tweet, despite attending the indoor awards show herself, and being seen in multiple photos off the stage without wearing a mask.
“Honestly you’re right to acknowledge what everyone is wondering & as usual YOU have a lot to lose for asking the question,” Brandi Carlile replied to Morris. “Thank you for being human. Whether that was the place he got it or not- they endangered him & it easily could have been. It’s quietly bothered me for weeks.”
Mickey Guyton also demanded, “We need answers as to how Charley Pride got Covid.”
As the controversy ensued, the CMA Awards issued a statement, saying “Everyone affiliated with the CMA Awards followed strict testing protocols outlined by the city health department and unions. Charley was tested prior to traveling to Nashville. He was tested upon landing in Nashville, and again on show day, with all tests coming back negative. After returning to Texas following the CMA Awards, Charley again tested negative multiple times. All of us in the Country Music community are heartbroken by Charley’s passing. Out of respect for his family during their grieving period, we will not be commenting on this further.”
Nonetheless, the controversy has persisted to the point where now Charley Pride’s close friend, manager, and longtime bass player Kevin Bailey is speaking out.
In an article titled, “Charley Pride’s Manager Slams CMA Critics” in The Dallas Morning News, Kevin Bailey says, “This COVID thing, it’s impossible to know where it came from, where you got it. I do know that Charley tested negative twice after he came back from Nashville, and it may have even been three times. My understanding is that when Charley went into the hospital, we thought he had pneumonia. Somebody decided to do another test, and then they put him in the COVID unit.”
Kevin Bailey continued, “Charley was the best of anybody I knew with staying isolated. He and his wife were home all the time. And every time I went and had a meeting with him, we were both masked and sitting across the room from each other. Every precaution was taken. I think it’s unfortunate that people are out there crusading to stir up some mud. Because I really don’t think the CMAs were negligent in any way. Every time we darkened the door, we got tested.”
Individuals criticizing the CMAs as the sole party responsible for Charley Pride attending the 2020 CMA Awards are also overlooking that it was both Charley Pride’s choice and wish to attend the 2020 CMA Awards in person. Pride was the recipient of the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, and also performed and gave an acceptance speech. On November 10th—the day before the CMA Awards—Charley Pride told The Tennessean, “The best I can say is I wanna go and receive this and put it with all the rest that I’ve been fortunate enough to get, and enjoy it.”
Critics have also been wondering why Pride couldn’t have accepted the award via zoom or other remote technology. But Charley Pride didn’t have to participate in the 2020 CMAs at all to receive the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019, the award went to Kris Kristofferson, who not only was not in attendance to accept the award, he didn’t even make a video or in any way acknowledged the award during the presentation. Instead, Kristofferson chose to play a theater show in Davenport, Iowa during the 2020 CMAs.
Charley Pride attended the 2020 CMA Awards because he wanted to. The CMAs certainly did not demand his presence, and would have facilitated Charley’s request if he’d chosen to accept the award remotely, or would have be fine if he didn’t participate in the presentation at all.
Multiple critics of the 2020 CMA Awards have also wondered why it took so long for the CMAs to honor Charley Pride. “They let an 86 year old man get on a plane to get an award he should have gotten decades ago in the middle of a pandemic,” freelance journalist and outspoken critic of the CMAs Marissa R. Moss tweeted out.
However, the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award was not created until 2012 when Willie Nelson was the inaugural recipient. The CMAs also named Charley Pride Entertainer of the Year in 1971. At the time, Pride was only the fifth artist in history to receive country music’s greatest distinction. Pride was also named the CMA Male Vocalist of the Year in both 1971 and 1972. And the CMA’s did honor Charley Pride two decades ago. The Country Music Association also selects the members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and Pride became the institution’s first black inductee in 2000. Pride is also a previous host of the CMA Awards.
The CMA Awards did have numerous COVID-19 protocols in place for the presentation, including limiting capacity inside the awards, testing all participants, and multiple social distancing protocols. The CMA’s strict protocols resulted in the Associated Press pulling coverage from the event due to the restrictions placed on their still photographers. “Organizers had initially sought AP photo coverage from inside the ceremony, but said that due to coronavirus precautions it could not accommodate a wire service photographer,” the AP said in a statement.
After initial rounds of testing for the awards, multiple performers were barred from attending for either testing positive for COVID-19, or for potential exposure, including members of Lady A and Rascal Flatts, Lee Brice, fiddle player Jenee Fleenor, and Florida Georgia Line member Tyler Hubbard.
Nonetheless, many were still concerned about the lack of mask wearing by many at the CMA Awards, and the lack of social distancing at certain moments, with some even characterizing the presentation as a “superspreader” event. However, there has not been a single case of COVID-19 linked to the 2020 CMA Awards, and Charley Pride is the only artist who it is being speculated may have contracted it either at the awards, or traveling to and from them from his home in Dallas, TX.
The CMAs were also criticized in 2020 for lacking an In Memoriam segment, which excluded John Prine, Billy Joe Shaver, Jerry Jeff Walker, and other artists that passed away in 2020 from being mentioned, despite an extended lineup of tributes to artists in the 2020 lineup, including Kenny Rogers, Joe Diffie, Mac Davis, and Charlie Daniels.
– – – – – – – – – – –
In 2020, the CMA Awards chose to make Charley Pride the centerpiece of their presentation. The tribute started off with a performance by Jimmie Allen, followed by a performance by Pride himself, and an opportunity for Pride to make an extended speech. Featuring Charley Pride so prominently and awarding him the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Awards was in answer to critics who demand more representation of older artists at the CMA Awards, and for more emphasis of artists of color in the genre. Now the CMA is now being criticized for that same decision.
We are likely never to know when or how Charley Pride contracted COVID-19, and it very well could have been the 2020 CMA Awards, or on his trip to or from the event. But unlike so many of country music’s most legendary performers—including the long list of artists who have died in 2020 alone—Charley Pride received a proper tribute while he was still around to enjoy it. It was poignant, fitting, and ultimately, very timely.
It was Charley Pride’s choice to be at the 2020 CMA Awards, and though speculation in the situation is understandable, and the concern is warranted, there continues to be no definitive answer as to where Charley Pride contracted COVID-19, and it’s ultimately hurtful to Charley’s family and representatives—who lobbied for him to receive this distinction from the CMA, and may have encouraged him to attend—to continue to sow wild speculation and lay blame at the CMA Awards for Charley Pride’s death.
December 18, 2020 @ 9:32 am
Agreed. The CMA did look sloppy to me and I was uncomfortable watching. But there doesn’t appear to be any evidence of a larger outbreak there. I think the problem they are really upset about is above the CMA and includes the lack of evidence. Places that have a grip on this have contract tracing. The larger issues like that are not the CMA’s fault.
Also, I was impressed with how you handled yourself in a related Twitter foofraw. I have certainly criticized you for going overboard but nothing like what I was seeing from some of them.
December 18, 2020 @ 9:55 am
The CMAs left their flanks open by not being more careful with their COVID-19 protocols and broadcasting their safety like the ACM Awards did. But there continues to be no evidence this is where Charley Pride got COVID-19. Maybe he did. Maybe he got it in the hospital when he checked in with pneumonia, and apparently they initially did not diagnose him with COVID-19, according to his manager. We just don’t know. And people need to understand that when they’re laying blame on the CMA Awards, they’re also laying blame on Charley’s representatives and family, because they were willing participants in allowing Pride to attend the CMAs as well. And this is not what they need to be dealing with at this time.
I’ve been cancelled before on Twitter, and I will be cancelled again. It really sucks to see your reputation dragged through the mud with outright verifiably false accusations just because some get so much joy tearing a stranger down. But it will not intimidate me from doing my job. I don’t run a popularity contest, and Twitter makes up all of roughly 2% of the traffic this site receives. Lies spread fast on Twitter, but the truth ultimately always prevails.
December 18, 2020 @ 10:00 am
Yeah, keep up the good work man.
December 20, 2020 @ 4:16 am
Margo is right. You spend so much time really hating Jimmie Allen and Kane Brown in racially coded ways just because their music ‘isn’t country enough.’ You diminish the contributions black people have made to country and complain about diversity every time a black artist gets any kind of spotlight at an award show or positive/sympathetic press. You show skepticism every time a black artist (or a woman) complains about discrimination and then you’ll turn around and talk about how conservatives, white people, and men are being treated unfairly in country music. Honestly, the list is endless.
I can’t speak for all black people. Charley Pride and I have different perspectives on how race should be treated in country music journalism, for example. But I’m saying, as a black person, I notice it all the time in your articles and your own comments down below, nevermind the rest of the comment section. I used to only lurk because it’s so bad, but I’ve stopped doing even that for the most part.
I don’t really know what the solution is. Only thing I can recommend is you can’t take Charley Pride (who says he never really had a problem being black in country music) at his word and then dismiss, question, or minimize the experiences of all the other black people and women claiming there’s prejudice in country.
December 20, 2020 @ 8:11 am
Matthew, putting aside the fact that the comment you’re replying to is about COVID, Twitter, and cancel culture…. and has little to do with yours…honest question: As someone who cherishes the organic and acoustic nature of country music, and considers it intrinsic to the genre, why shouldn’t Kane be questioned as a country artists? Sam Hunt, Keith Urban, etc, have all received similar questions. Why does criticism of Kane HAVE to be “racially coded” and wouldn’t it be discriminatory to treat him differently than Sam Hunt, etc? Wouldn’t it be weird if Trigger or anyone else said “ok sure r&b, edm or other electronic beats is country,” out of fear of being attacked? Charlie Pride’s comments about his own experiences should be put in to perspective, for sure, but wouldn’t not mentioning them at all be both disingenuous and ideologically motivated? I’ve never seen trigger once suggest that there is no prejudice in country music. If he has, perhaps you should directly respond to that comment and call it out (if that happens I’ll join you in calling it out – seriously). But making vague and over generalized accusations based on nefarious, hidden, “coded” intentions on a comment that has nothing to do with your accusation, seems pretty unfair.
December 20, 2020 @ 11:07 am
Jack, I responded here because it’s the only place I saw Trigger addressing it aside from twitter, which is not a good platform for anything more than hot takes. Maybe I missed another, better comment to reply to, but like I said, I don’t really follow this site anymore.
It’s fine to criticize Kane Brown. I personally don’t care for his music. It’s not fine to call his music hip hop/rap (which Trigger has done) when it’s not even close to that.
I’ve kept things pretty general becauae I’m pointing out patterns of thought I noticed. I doubt Trigger is a hard-R racist – take my Kane Brown example. It’s not unforgivable. But calling his music hip hop is the type of comment that only gets made because Kane is biracial, and not because it’s actually true. Those kinds of slights matter, and they happen all the time in these articles because it’s more than just a single bad comment, it’s his way of writing about and dealing with these issues.
December 21, 2020 @ 10:52 am
1) He’s made many comments about the influence of edm, pop and hip hop creeping into country. Here’s one from an article on Kane: “ However Kane Brown happens to be the one making huge waves in popular country music at the moment, and those waves are moving country more in the direction of sounding like everything else in popular music, whether it’s pop, R&B, hip-hop, or EDM.”
2) He’s made comments about white artists along the same lines. Be it Sam Hunt, Keith Urban, etc
3) Trap influenced high hats and beats, and rap cadences have made their may into pop, rock, and now country. If we were to call that “country” and not give credit to hip hop, he would be guilty of “appropriation.” So when he points out the obvious, we’re instead supposed to read between the lines and accuse him of racial coding?
All in all the guy has has done more to expose people to independent minority artists than anyone (see the recent article he just posted). I personally have discovered Latino, Black, and Asian artists that I now listen to and support, because of Trigger. I can’t and shouldn’t take anything away from your “truth” and how you see this, but to me it still seems pretty unfair, and perhaps like a bit of a reach.
December 21, 2020 @ 12:37 pm
My point is that Kane Brown isn’t borrowing from hip hop. He was very clear to avoid that, in terms of music and marketing, for his first two albums at least. Anybody who listens to hip hop wouldn’t call American Bad Dream ‘100% a hip hop song,’ as Trigger did. He did that because Kane is biracial/black and hip hop = black. Again, this is a minor point, but stuff like that happens all the time. I don’t have a problem with him pointing it out in Sam Hunt’s music because it’s actually true.
That’s fine if you disagree. My post is to show an example of what the ‘other side’ thinks when they read some of Trigger’s stuff. When people call him racist, these kinds of comments are part of that. When Cheryl Deseree sees an album review calling her a ‘Samoan goddess,’ she’s going to be grossed out no matter how positive the album review is, which it was. That’s why I think his posts about all the times he covered black/lgbtq/female artists kinda missed the point of those criticisms. It’s great that he does it and that you’ve found artists you never would have thanks to him. I think he should keep doing it. But when the coverage is wrong or gross or whatever the issue is, people are going to call him out on it.
December 21, 2020 @ 2:20 pm
It took me a minute to find that quote. I agree with you, it’s not 100% hip hop. I like a fair mount of hip hop and enough to know that. Does Trigger? I don’t know, but probably not. But that’s his crime that makes “Margo right?” Here’s what he said about Keith Urban recently: “Unfortunately Merle Haggard isn’t around to put his boot on Keith Urban’s throat while the original lineup of his backing band The Strangers takes turns extinguishing their unfiltered Camel cigarettes on Urban’s scrotum.”
Does he exaggerate, and often times say hyperbolic things? Sure. He’s been doing that for years and I could probably find 100 examples. To say that Margo (and her buddy journalists) are “calling him out” is a totally disingenuous comment though. The dude has been saying similar, arguably alarmist and purist things about people of all persuasions for a decade, and to suddenly condone and amplify someone calling him a “racist” because Kane happens to be biracial is not honest. Furthermore, you may acknowledge or doubt that trigger is a “hard-R” racist, and you may put together a decent, nuanced argument, but the people who don’t know Trigger only see him being called a racist on Twitter. And to say she is “right” about that is is suspect. She’s not “calling him out.” She’s calling for his cancellation. We both know that, so let’s not pretend otherwise. Though I don’t “100’%” agree with your comment, you are at least engaging and it’s obvious you have good intentions. That’s “calling out.” Margo is not doing that, and IMO she isn’t “right’ in what she’s doing, at all. I don’t want to live in a racist world and I don’t want to live in a hyper judgmental one where only the purist of the pure escape the wrath of the cancel mob, and I don’t think it has to be either/or. Since this thread is way too long now, I won’t comment further. It’s been great chatting with you, and I appreciate having this forum to be able to do so. Take care.
December 21, 2020 @ 10:23 am
Trigger has the same complaints about Kane Brown that he has about Sam Hunt. How is that racially coded?
December 21, 2020 @ 11:48 am
Matthew,
One of the most frustrating things about this situation is that in my opinion, two of the most important stories involving race in country music in 2020 are going completely ignored by much of the woke country music media that are coming after me.
Sure, I have been critical of Kane Brown, but like others have pointed out, it’s on par with his white contemporaries. I’ve barely even mentioned Jimmie Allen, while I have mentioned and featured many black performers no other site has like Aaron Vance.
But most frustrating is that this year, Florida Georgia Line straight up stole a chorus from a Kane Brown song. Normally, this would be a national story well beyond country music. However the only outlet that has reported on it (and helped expose it) is Saving Country Music. In fact, I feel pretty confident the reason it wasn’t a major story is because I was the one to break and expose it, and other outlets would have to give me credit.
Check it out:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/why-kane-brown-is-credited-on-florida-georgia-lines-new-1/
December 19, 2020 @ 7:33 am
The CDC has now created a new mortality category, “PIC,” which rolls pneumonia, influenza, and “covid” all together:
https://tinyurl.com/ydxb64h5
Garbage data, now with more garbage. Because of this, it will be harder to tell what’s going on.
Out here in the cornfields, we have our suspicions.
December 21, 2020 @ 5:25 pm
Are you implying that the CDC is now reporting deaths related to Pneumonia and Influenze as Covid deaths?That is not the case though I admit a very cursory glance at your link may give that impression
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/12/instagram-post-distorts-facts-on-covid-19-death-reporting/
December 20, 2020 @ 9:26 am
Maran Morris needs to shut her big ass mouth….she is a someone who thinks shes important person to bring up medical comments. I will never and have never enjoyed her so called country music and for Charley im sure he would have said that the Lord was ready for him!!!!! He was true country music not bullshit country music.
December 18, 2020 @ 9:43 am
Has it ever occurred to the infectious lib’s like Morris, Carlisle, and Guyton that Mr. pride was 86 years old?
“I think it’s unfortunate that people are out there crusading to stir up some mud.” This is what the liberals do. Always gotta have a cause. And in doing so, they dishonor the great Charley Pride to further their woke politcal agenda. They have no class. They bring dishonor and shame to Mr. Pride and the country music genre. He was pure class.
To think that country music has to now put up with this vitriol scum!
December 18, 2020 @ 9:57 am
There are plenty of crusaders on the right as well. Unfortunately though, it has become fashion in recent years to shit on country music at every turn since it’s tied to rural America. Some of it is warranted. Some of it is just virtue signaling, that deadens the effectiveness of fair criticism when it is necessary.
December 18, 2020 @ 11:44 am
Trigger,
Agree that! Country music is seen as an extension of rural America, much of which is more conservative that non-rural. It is a back-door method. I do think that the music genre we know as country is just the vehicle used. It’s not the music as much as the audience, or at least the perceived audience that many go after.
I look for the word “country” to become offensive to them and a move to replace the term “country music” with something else. I put nothing past them.
December 19, 2020 @ 6:14 am
Getting rid of the word country isn’t the worst idea. It’s become meaningless because it’s just a marketing term now, connected with whatever’s on the Billboard charts instead of the music rooted in tradition.
December 18, 2020 @ 12:17 pm
The contempt for country music that’s become “in fashion” is not so much because it’s tied to rural America. More specifically, it’s because commercial country appeals to blue collar whites and it’s imagery embraces the Flag–including the Confederate Flag, up until quite recently, guns–and attacks atheism and intellectualism. To mainstream liberals, country music fans, like NASCAR fans, are pretty much indistinguishable from MAGA “deplorables.”
December 18, 2020 @ 12:58 pm
Your comment is not synonymous with intellectualism, no matter what your grandmother has told you.
December 18, 2020 @ 3:48 pm
Having the ability to speak doesn’t make you intelligent.
December 19, 2020 @ 6:18 am
I’m not seeing a contempt for country music amongst liberals. If anything, it’s fashionable to be *into* country music right now. It’s having a moment, probably due to Ken Burns.
December 19, 2020 @ 1:05 pm
@wilson
My use of the term “contempt for country music” was a SOFTENING of the language in the comment that it was in response to: Trig’s statement that ” it has become fashion in recent years to shit on country music at every turn”!
I understood him to be talking about mainstream, contemporary country music.
Of course, most of us who frequent lthis site have a certain contempt for much of that product, as well.
December 18, 2020 @ 3:52 pm
While I can’t speak for the late Mr Pride, I would imagine that he would rather attend the CMAs and be awarded in person for his decades of hard work, than be locked away at home for his “safety”. You can die doing anything. And banning elderly people from socializing with other people is doing more harm than good.
Liberals love to blame others for everything, it’s just what they do.
December 19, 2020 @ 5:51 pm
Dude, that is literally all the republican party and Trump does is blame everyone else. Granted I don’t consider Trump a conservative, but people that think they are conservative think he is, so here we are. A person that hates democracy, free trade, spits on our allies and licks the boots of despots that attack and threaten us is conservative. Also in your bizzaro world Trump and the GOP don’t blame anyone for anything and take responsibility. This country is just doomed.
December 18, 2020 @ 5:31 pm
Charlie Pride was a great gentleman of country music. Loved him and he lived in Dallas. Met him and Rozene at Fan Fair 1994. Both very friendly gracious couple. He signed a picture for my momma who just loved “Kiss an Angel Good morning. ” I do think The CMA’S had something to do with it. When I saw him I said he shouldn’t be there. Why. Couldn’t they have done it virtually? Your singing in the Lords choir now.
December 18, 2020 @ 9:58 am
Full throated defense of how the CMA does business.
Here.
December 18, 2020 @ 10:22 am
In 2020, I have found myself in the very strange position of defending the Country Music Association, and the CMA Awards on multiple occasions. The long-standing position on this organization and their annual awards at Saving Country Music is that it is an insular environment operated within an oligarchical structure that stifles creativity, diversity, and impinges on the effort to celebrate and preserve the roots of country music. And even with all the venom and spite being spewed in the direction of both the CMA organization and the 2020 awards presentation specifically, it still is a drop in the bucket compared to the reams of negative coverage Saving Country Music has offered over the last dozen years toward the organization, and deservedly so.
Nonetheless, one of the most important aspects in holding country music’s institutions to account is being truthful in the presentation of facts, fair in the weighing of those facts and the sharing of opinions based on them, and even being willing to give credit where credit is due so that when spirited criticism is shared, it will hopefully result in some sort of fundamental impact on the actions of the organization moving forward.
This is not what happened with much of the criticism flowing towards the CMA Awards in 2020. Much of the criticism was unfounded, and veritably false.
December 18, 2020 @ 2:18 pm
“Nonetheless, one of the most important aspects in holding country music’s institutions to account is being truthful in the presentation of facts, fair in the weighing of those facts and the sharing of opinions based on them, and even being willing to give credit where credit is due so that when spirited criticism is shared, it will hopefully result in some sort of fundamental impact on the actions of the organization moving forward.”
Well said.
P.S. Fuck the haters (and Fuck Twitter).
December 18, 2020 @ 3:45 pm
I’ve earn my SCM t-shirt correcting Marissa and her misinformed wannabes on Twitter. I love how the argument always goes back to Shooter Jennings. 8 years ago I told you I’m on our side of the feud and you replied “there is no feud,” so I put down my sword.
It’s crazy in this world you either have to be black or white, left or right … there’s no nuance or gray. You can’t be critical of the CMAs and defend them when they are being wrongly attacked. You can’t criticize Maren Morris and still be an advocate for woman artists in country music.
I see it with super fandom (especially Sturgill Simpson stand). You either like the whole body of work or nothing. I still can’t believe those stans that were posting if you don’t like Sound & Fury, you can’t like Cuttin’ Grass Volumes.
December 18, 2020 @ 10:04 am
Typical SCM, ruining a perfectly good controversy with ‘facts’ and ‘logic’!
/sarcasm
December 18, 2020 @ 3:39 pm
NOBODY SHOULD AS AN 86 YR OLD IN A PANDEMIC TO FLY AND OR ATTEND ANYTHING OTHER THAN VIRTUALLY. THE NEGATIVE TESTS MEAN NOTHING. AS A DOCTOR OR A SCIENTIST HOW MANY FALSE NEGATIVES OR POSITIVES ARE PRODUCED!!!! Wasn’t there a contact on him?
December 18, 2020 @ 5:03 pm
Nobody should ever tell a grown man or woman, 86 or otherwise, what they can or cant do. People know what’s going on. People need to live their lives the way they want and what kind of life is worth living if you’re locked away in isolation?
December 19, 2020 @ 12:58 am
Well said Rusty.
Mr. Pride was his own man living his own life.
He made an informed decision to go to an event to Honor him.
We all will leave this Earth when are time is up and face the Judgement of God.
Like Mr. Pride, I too will live my life as I feel that is best for me and my Family and won’t bow down to anyone ( GovernMental Crazies) but my Heavenly Father.
Rest in Peace my Brother in Christ.
December 18, 2020 @ 1:38 pm
“Honestly you’re right to acknowledge what everyone is wondering & as usual YOU have a lot to lose for asking the question,” Brandi Carlile replied to Morris.
What planet is Brandi living on? CoronaKaren Morris is as likely to be substantially called out for this as she is for being labeled a “country” performer, or for being a no-mask wearing hypocrite. But sure, she’s such a brave rebel.
It’s all performative.
December 18, 2020 @ 3:01 pm
Jake,
Maybe all three of them can go full Americana where they all belong and leave us the hell alone. Probably too much of a Christmas present to ask for. I hope Guyton does not turn into the Colin Kaepernick of country music. She has too much good potential to do that. And hopefully she will not let herself be used as a “tool” for the lefties.
December 18, 2020 @ 6:38 pm
I realily liked Mickey Guyton when I first heard her a few years back with her first single. Besides her obvious talent, I also thought she was very physically cute/beautiful (it’s probably politically incorrect to say that but WHO CARES). But lately, sadly she seem to be falling into the same place as many other artists of all stripes – letting herself be used by the left’s proponents of false racism & sexism. I hope she doesn’t continue that trend…
December 18, 2020 @ 4:06 pm
Many liberals have this strange idea that it’s “the world against them”, and that it’s an act bravery every time some liberal states their opinion, such as every time a Hollywood celebrity criticizes Trump, and every liberal celebrity and journalist calls them brave.
December 19, 2020 @ 6:03 pm
I haven’t heard any liberal call someone brave for calling Trump out for who he is. It is expected. I do hear Trump and his supporters saying “the world is against them” non-stop. He told the crowd at his last Georgia that they were all victims. I mean his supporters are kinda victims. Victims of a con man
December 21, 2020 @ 2:43 pm
Well said, Buck O’Brien.
Kinda like the way celebrities in the papers, on awards shows, and all over 97% of other media are always encouraging each other to ‘be brave’ and ‘speak their truth’, saying stuff like “We will be heard!” and “Finally, we have a voice!”….
…While anyone with a brain is thinking, “Finally? A voice? Speak up? You people don’t shut up. We can’t escape your self-righteous, self-aggrandizing babble. A voice is ALL you have—certainly not common sense, humility, empathy, morality or profound knowledge of… anything!”
December 18, 2020 @ 1:48 pm
Charley Pride attended the 2020 CMA Awards because he wanted to. The CMAs certainly did not demand his presence, and would have facilitated Charley’s request if he’d chosen to accept the award remotely, or would have be fine if he didn’t participate in the presentation at all. he managed to live 86 years and was a grown man making his own decisions.We don’t know why MANY people have caught Covid and died as so many who have were being safe as possible.leave it rest y’all and remember the great Charlie pride- who was taken from us all by Covid 19 and no one or anything else.
December 18, 2020 @ 2:37 pm
The hospital tested him when? That seems a bit suspect. Apparently his manager and family thought he may have contracted pneumonia- there’s ample evidence that hospitals profit with COVID diagnosis- who’s going to argue with them?
Answer: Me. I had to go to the hospital the week after Thanksgiving. I thought I was having a heart attack- the emergency room didn’t test me for COVID, but, once I got to my room and they finally got around to deciding what procedure they wanted to do, Monday morning some time, they told me I had to be tested for COVID. I REPLIED, no, I don’t.
I wasn’t complaining about flu like symptoms (though I did complain he mask they forced me to wear made my nose stop up and my lips and throat dry out) and my temp, which was taken every time I went to sleep, was never above 98 deg. Not once. The Nurse in charge said, well let me call the Dr- I told her to call anybody she wanted to. I’m leaving. The nurse replied, let me check with the Dr to see if its okay for you to leave- zi laughed at her, as I walked back into my room, took out my IV set up, called my son to come get me, put on my Pearl Snap shirt, and left.
BTW, I turn 73 tomorrow.
This scam, is nothing but a political football and the virtue signalers are as guilty as any for perpetrating the madness.
And no, I’m not going to argue the point- I know what I know, which is a lot more than amny, if not most. So save your energy
December 18, 2020 @ 3:28 pm
HAPPY BIRTHDAY manana, DJ!
December 18, 2020 @ 2:40 pm
CMA set itself up for all this via inconsistency: on the one hand, testing and , maybe, exclusions (though no doubt some of those would have happened anyway, with the more cautious performers staying home), on the other, televised lack of social distancing and masking, onstage and off (seems likely that’s why the AP photog) wasn’t allowed to take lasting evidence). If they’d had a mask mandate, would have been trouble with that audience, but a virtual event (though taken as an insult by many) would have saved them from the present controversy, and won new defenders, representing the saner side of country.
December 18, 2020 @ 3:15 pm
You know what really sucks, aside from the fact that Charley is gone? It sucks that all this attention is being paid to this alleged controversy instead of focusing on Charley’s incredible career and his talent. Aside from George Jones, I cannot think of a better singer in country music. Once again a bunch of woke white women are running their mouths because they are convinced they are so damn smart and know it all. How much of a hypocrite does someone have to be to run around the CMA’s without a mask on then act all aghast about the ceremony? “I Know One.”
December 18, 2020 @ 4:03 pm
I think these virtue-signalling women are jealous that none of them have even a tenth of the talent Charley Pride has.
December 18, 2020 @ 4:15 pm
CMT did the same thing with their special on him.
90% of it was about his race. Best part? During the special they used quotes from Charley about how it wasn’t a big deal and how he didn’t have incidents.
I was hoping to discover more information on his life and in-depth analysis of music instead of repeating one-note narratives that Charley himself disproved.
December 18, 2020 @ 4:39 pm
CountryKnight,
You are correct. I watched a recent interview of Charley and he stated the same thing you said. Of course there were extra obstacles for him, but not career-defining and he stated that his way was not as hard as some supposed. I posted previously, but his relationship with Faron Young is a good study.
December 19, 2020 @ 1:26 am
You are correct Tracy.
ALL attention should be paid to his Career.
Mr. Pride was an incredible Talent that left behind
50 plus years of Chart Topping Music that generation after generation can enjoy.
30 #1 hits!!! Not to Shabby
December 18, 2020 @ 5:33 pm
I think people jumped on this because when they watched the show they were surprised by the lack of face masks and the silliness of the hand-held face shields people were holding up to their faces. They LOOKED irresponsible. And it wasn’t a good look.
December 19, 2020 @ 12:20 am
Would love to see Maureen Morris’s two faced Meme WITH FINGERS coming out her mouth pointing to everyone else!
She’s a shame.
December 19, 2020 @ 12:34 am
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December 19, 2020 @ 5:20 am
People need to start taking personal responsibility for themselves and stop the silly childish blame game. Mr Pride was 86 years old, and made the choice to go to the CMA awards, not wear a mask, or whatever then it still becomes falls on each and every one of us to protect ourselves and our families from this invisible disease. You can’t go into a gas station without wearing a mask, if you don’t wash your hands after touching things like door knobs out in public your going to get this stuff as well. Yall keep playing the blame game and there won’t be a CMA award ceremony next time or until this pandemic is really over with. Indoors, Outdoors, with thousands of people who have to be near one another, use restrooms, eat and drink, socialize. It all comes down to everyone being responsible for themselves.
December 19, 2020 @ 6:09 am
Remember how Garth got Charley to be featured on his newest album?! Kind of eerie looking back.
God Bless Charley Pride.
December 19, 2020 @ 6:13 am
The old school era of country music is shrinking…
We still have Willie , Whispering Bill, Dolly, & Loretta Lynn. Protect them at all costs.
December 19, 2020 @ 6:53 am
I guess if it’s proven the CMA is responsible, every member will face murder charges and the CMA will be disbanded. I also assume they will be charged with kidnapping and cruel and unusual punishment for forcing Charley Pride into an airplane and then beating him unmercifully to go onto the stage therefore exposing him to the novel coronavirus sars epidemic germs.
December 19, 2020 @ 9:46 am
I’d give real money if Maren Morris would just shut up!!!
December 19, 2020 @ 9:47 am
The CMA is the unlikely source of Pride’s COVID19 death as he had tested negative following it on 2 occasions. It is not really a story at all. The CMA is not at fault and should not be the story. The real story is the loss of a great man and a great singer and we should be celebrating his life not being distracted by a non story. He is a massive loss. One of many in what has been a year of sad losses for country music.
December 19, 2020 @ 10:12 am
It’s always the same two women? (not sure if they have pronouns or not, but for now I’ll refer to them as women) who always start the shit on twitter. Two very angry women who only writes about artists based on politics they agree with.They probably dream of reporting for Rachael Maddow, but they’re not good enough. They don’t care about actual music, they just like yelling. May be why their following is so low.
I even seen one of these women? point out that the owner of a gig Travis Tritt recently played at was against bump stocks. Haha take THAT Travis!. So juvenile. I’m sure TT really gives a shit, he’s there to play music and put some more jingle in his pocket.
I feel they use yelling at you as a means of directing traffic to them. They seem to enjoy being miserable, so I say block em and let them enjoy their misery.
December 19, 2020 @ 10:29 am
They not only enjoy being miserable, they enjoy making everyone else miserable.
December 19, 2020 @ 10:57 am
Sad how artist show up thinking they getting an award. But now trash the organization that promotes their careers?
In today’s media hyped pandemic everything is COVID fault. Charlie was 86 & looked very frailty at the awards show!
So go to hell Ms Morris you are not country anyway!
December 19, 2020 @ 2:57 pm
I wonder what Jason Isbell would do…(said sarcastically)
December 19, 2020 @ 6:31 pm
I’M A HUGE FAN OF MR. CHARLEY PRIDE! IT’S SAD HE IS NO LONGER WITH US, HOWEVER…
I AM VERY THANKFUL FOR HIS AWARD AND APPEARANCE ON THE CMA’S! I’M HAPPY THAT HIS FAMILY,FRIENDS,& FANS HAVE SUCH A BEAUTIFUL ❤️ MEMORY OF THAT NIGHT❣️
‘THO HEART BROKEN ???? OVER HIS LEAVING, I’M SO THANKFUL HE WAS HONORED BEFORE MAKING HIS ENTRANCE INTO HEAVEN! HE DESERVES IT ALL!!! LEAVE HIS FAMILY ALONE!!!
IF YOU ARE A TRUE FAN THEN TALK TO GOD ???? AND PRAY FOR PEACE & COMFORT ❤️ TO THEM! RIP SWEET CHARLEY PRIDE,’TILL WE MEET AGAIN!!! LOVE ❤️ AND PRAYERS SENT ???? TO ALL WHO LOVES YOU! YOU WEREN’T JUST A GREAT ENTERTAINER, YOU WERE A GOOD MAN WITH A HUGE ❤️!!!
December 20, 2020 @ 5:55 am
My Lord I love cp as much as anyone let the man RIP WHY TO PEOPLE ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS WANT TO START MESS.I GUESS ITS THEIR NATURE AFTER ALL GOD BLESSED HIM WITH A GOOD LONG HAPPY LIFE ❤️
December 21, 2020 @ 8:52 am
RIP Charley Pride.
Stop watching these stupid award shows. It’s just a marketing tool to influence simpletons into buying music. I don’t blame the CMAs for his death, but if there’s something we can get rid of during this pandemic it’s every Hollywood and music awards show where these clowns pat themselves on the back.
December 21, 2020 @ 1:55 pm
Why does the CMA even have to give out a Lifetime Achievement award in the first place? They handle the Hall of Fame inductions, and isn’t being selected for the hall of Fame a lifetime achievement award?
January 4, 2021 @ 1:13 pm
Trigger,
I emailed the Hall of Fame again last night regarding when will an announcement be made regarding the Medallion Ceremonies for both 2020 and 2021 and in their reply back to me this morning, they said:
There has been no decisions made regarding Medallion Ceremony for 2020 and 2021 inductees. They will plan to honor these inductees when it is safe to do so.
What do you think?.
January 4, 2021 @ 1:17 pm
I think we continue to wait. Hopefully with the vaccine, stuff will start to return to normal by late spring.