Despite Multiple Rape Allegations, Nelly Invited to ACM Honors
On Wednesday evening, August 23rd, the annual ACM Honors are being held at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. They will be aired on FOX on September 18th. Sort of like the little cousin of the ACM Awards each spring, the ACM Honors are yet another excuse on the country music calendar for everyone to get together and pat each other on the back.
What makes the ACM Honors a bit more unique though is how formal and comparatively intimate the event is, and how it’s not just about the big commercial powerhouse songs or albums or artists from a given year, but more about honoring people who are worth honoring for their service to country music and to the community.
That’s why it is so troubling to see that hip-hop artist and three-time accused sexual assaulter Nelly has been added to the ACM Honors lineup. Not only is Nelly not a country artist, his very troubling record with sexual assault accusations makes him the antithesis of the type of person the ACM Honors should be highlighting. Nelly also has prior run-ins with the law due to drug and weapon possessions, as well as tax liens.
Yet for some reason, whenever these types of events come up, Nelly is included with a curiously common frequency while his very troubling record constantly gets swept under the rug. Nelly is being invited to the event to recognize his 2004 collaboration with Tim McGraw on the genre-bending song “Over and Over.” McGraw is being presented with the “ACM Icon” award at the event.
Nelly was arrested October 7th, 2017 in Auburn, Washington after he was accused of sexual assault by a local woman. Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., was arrested on his tour bus in a Wal-Mart parking lot where the alleged rape occurred. The rapper had performed earlier that evening at the White River Amphitheatre as part of Florida Georgia Line’s 2017 “Smooth Tour.”
According to Steve Stocker of the Auburn police, the woman called 911 and reported the rape at 3:48 am. After an investigation, police decided to charge Nelly on 2nd degree rape, and placed him under arrest.
Later those charges were dropped by local authorities after the alleged victim—22-year-old Monique Green—said she was being harassed and smeared in the media after leaks from the local police department ended up on TMZ. She said she couldn’t trust the local police to fairly prosecute her case. Multiple stories involving Nelly’s attorney Scott Rosenblum appeared on TMZ accusing Monique Green of being a gold digger and a liar.
Shortly after the arrest for 2nd degree rape, two more accusations against Nelly emerged. One was from a woman who says that Nelly assaulted her at an afterparty following a concert at Koko, which is a club in London, England. The victim alleges Nelly groped her, despite repeatedly staving off his unwelcomed advances in June of 2016. The woman said hearing the story of another victim in Washington State compelled her to come forward.
Then another sexual assault investigation commenced against Nelly by police in Essex, England less than 2 months after Nelly was arrested in Washington State. A woman claimed that after a show at Cliffs Pavilion in Essex on December 5th, 2017, she approached Nelly to take a picture with him. Nelly allegedly grabbed the woman by the arm and took her to his dressing room where he began to masturbate in front of her and tried take her top off and force her to perform oral sex on him. As she ran away, the accuser claims Nelly yelled at her and called her a “c*nt.”
Subsequently, a civil suit between Nelly and Monique Green was settled privately. The woman in the Cliff’s Pavilion incident also did not cooperate with authorities for undisclosed reasons. Nelly has never been convicted of any crime against a woman, and everyone has a right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. But despite the gravity of the charges—even when they were fresh and he was actively under investigation for rape—Nelly was allowed to continue on tour with Florida Georgia Line, and has since appeared at numerous country festivals, CMT specials, and now the ACM Honors.
Nelly collaborated with another accused sexual assaulter, Jimmie Allen, on the 2020 song “Good Times Roll.” Where Jimmie Allen’s career has completely imploded after his day-to-day manager and another woman came forward to claim sexual assault and abuse, Nelly remains in the clear, likely because the accusations again the rapper came out right before the #MeToo movement took shape.
Nelly has never been convicted of any sex crime and certainly has the right to continue to work in the music business and collaborate with whomever he chooses. But naming him as a participant in the ACM Honors which is supposed to be about the character of performers over commercial performance is a very troubling development.
It speaks both to how the rapper has curiously skirted public scrutiny over the three credible accusations against him for sexual assault, and how despite public pronouncements, country music continues to have a dubious record with taking sexual assault accusations against professionals seriously, underscored by the continued presence of accused sexual assaulter Kirt Webster in the industry, and the continued blind eye turned by the media in his case as well.
If anything, organizations like the Academy of Country Music and the ACM Honors should be taking the lead on addressing these issues in the country music industry as opposed to inviting accused rapists to their events.
August 23, 2023 @ 12:36 pm
“a ridiculous spectacle will be going down in America. And no, we’re not talking about the first Republican Presidential Primary debate.”
Hello Kyle,
Is it that you believe political debates are bad, or that you don’t support any of these candidates?
August 23, 2023 @ 12:40 pm
I was just making a quip. Most political debates these days turn into spectacles and shouting matches. I’m not taking a swipe at anyone in particular.
August 24, 2023 @ 5:07 am
Did you see the time the debate devoted to Oliver Anthony’s song last night? I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. That’s got to be surreal for Oliver and I’d be interested to hear his thoughts on his song being used in a presidential debate.
August 24, 2023 @ 9:22 am
Steve Bannon has been playing Billy Strings and Billy Joe Shaver videos all week on his show to boot. Seems to be the Oliver Anthony effect….
August 26, 2023 @ 10:07 pm
I saw a video on Twitter today of Oliver Anthony saying he thought it was funny because they were the people he wrote the song about.
August 28, 2023 @ 6:27 am
Yep, I caught that as well. That was the type of response I was hoping to hear from someone who claims to be in the middle and unhappy with both parties.
August 23, 2023 @ 12:38 pm
Kyle,
Do you have an opinion on why Nelly gets a pass while Jimmy Allen does not?
August 23, 2023 @ 1:16 pm
The accusations against Nelly came out right before the whole #MeToo thing, and I think that spared him the brunt of criticism and potential cancellation. It it had all happened six months later, I think it would have been a completely different story.
When the accusations against Jimmie Allen came out, some discounted them because the alleged victims had not gone to the police. In the case of Nelly’s accusations, all three women went to the police, and at one point he was arrested for rape. Nelly has not been found guilty of anything, but this is because at least one of the victims chose to go the civil route because there is a greater chance of actually receiving justice as opposed to trying the criminal route.
I also think there is a “boys will be boys” attitude about hip-hop artists compared to country ones who seem to be held to a much higher standard. But I do think Nelly’s business is fair to criticize from a country standpoint since they continue to have him at these kinds of functions and the first rape accusation happened when he was on a country music tour.
I used to say when discussing Nelly, “Can you imagine what would happen if a major country artist was accused of rape three times?”
We saw what would happen with Jimmie Allen. It’s a double standard.
August 23, 2023 @ 11:04 pm
Jimmie’s selling out gigs in minutes and launching a stand up comedy tour. I don’t think Variety saw that coming.
August 23, 2023 @ 1:36 pm
Yeah, ACM should focus on Country music artists etc etc. 1000%. Nelly blows now, and he blew 20 years ago.
I’m very off topic here, but I’m *just* discovering Kacey Musgraves….and HOLY SHIT. What a voice! Can you just focus on puffing her up as much as possible because I want more. Seriously, she might have the best clear voice I’ve heard in my adult life. I also think you missed (a little) on your review of Star Crossed. It’s a pretty scattershot album, genre-wise, and while you say it’s not at all country, I think for sure “Camera Roll” is, and for some reason “Justified” gives me major “Jolene” vibes – ther SNL version especially. The opening track takes that whole spaghetti western Ennio Morricone thing and Andalusian cadence as its jumping off point, and the closing track, despite the strange production choices that obscure her voice…is very Nortenos. Which does fit into Texas and western if you care more about western than country. Anyway, not to derail exactly, but lets puff her up. She’s a fuckin’ amazing singer. All four of her albums have very high highs, and differing lows.
August 27, 2023 @ 1:58 am
ben-
check out kaitlin butts (right trig?). just as good, maybe better (i haven’t A-B’d the two just yet).
better songs, for sure (i don’t know what happened to kacey. song of the year, and then…nada).
August 23, 2023 @ 2:38 pm
What’s twice as bad as having standards? Double standards. There’s no morality there. I wonder if McGraw will raise the issue on the red carpet/with journalists, given that he’s only being honoured to try and shift some units of his album (out Friday).
August 23, 2023 @ 2:46 pm
It makes you wonder how the sleazeballs would spin Spade Cooley if he was around today.
August 23, 2023 @ 3:23 pm
Ummm and you police everyone else for throwing in incongruent political references. You’re supposed “objectivity” is just a way for you to air your opinions without pushback.
August 23, 2023 @ 4:09 pm
Oh quit it. If you’re offended by the fact that I made reference to the fact that the ACM Honors and the first Presidential debate are on the same night, you really may want to check who is being overly sensitive here.
I removed the comment so I don’t have to hear people searching with a fine-tooth come for something to be offended by won’t be offended.
Goodness.
August 23, 2023 @ 5:26 pm
I’m only offended by your overly one-way censorship.
August 23, 2023 @ 7:46 pm
ACM Honors won’t be televised until mid-September.
August 24, 2023 @ 6:25 am
Speaking of easily offended, Sierra Ferrell posted yesterday that people were calling her out for posting pics of her in braids. People were accusing her of being racist or whatever woke word these types use these days. The need to look at everything under the race card light is a joke.
August 24, 2023 @ 7:38 am
I saw that. Sierra Ferrell has proven herself to be a very thoughtful person, and it shows how people choose to be offended by just about anything these days in an effort to make something more about themselves and to broadcast their value system in an effort to gain attention. Clearly she meant no offense. Let’s see them try that weak shit with Willie Nelson.
August 24, 2023 @ 11:18 am
It’s trendy to be offended and to virtue signal. You should have left the comment in, let people steep in their own whine. ????
August 25, 2023 @ 7:04 am
“people choose to be offended by just about anything these days”
Definitely true. Just look at the bud light hissy fits as a great example of that.
Do you think Sierra Ferrell’s response to “try that in a small town” was very thoughtful? I would assume you wouldn’t.
August 23, 2023 @ 3:24 pm
Any organization that has some rap guy who makes rap songs with a Band-Aid on his face involved in any way is not country. It is sad that countless people who have created so much beautiful magic have to be associated with this trash by one very important word – country
August 28, 2023 @ 12:21 am
Because people should continue to buy products from a company that has contempt for them?
That doesn’t make sense.
November 10, 2023 @ 2:42 pm
Oh look where the racist have congregated. A while non factual article. All those charges were dropped bc guess what there were cameras and it came out that they were lying and it was consensual. The same way your ancestors didn’t discover thiscountry neither did they discover country music. I mean you act like he stole a whole people from their land, SA them, ripped babies out of their mothers arms, kidnapped them and sold them across the south. I mean he didn’t set fire to any churches or homes did he. Whew bc those kind of people….. why they are deplorable
November 10, 2023 @ 3:22 pm
Trig, I am a bit concerned. There are times when I have some drinks and look on my phone, but I just got an email saying that someone replied to my comment. I go to the email and look at my post and not only do I have no recollection whatsoever of writing those words, but I cannot imagine any of these thoughts ever going through my head. I am not suggesting that any investigation takes place in to some cyber hack or some thing, but just keep your eyes open in case someone somehow has hacked into things.
August 23, 2023 @ 3:31 pm
I think the double standard is that if Jimmie Allen had marketed himself to the hip-hop audience and done the exact same thing he’s now accused of, his career would not have been impacted in the slightest and he may have even benefited. Much of that audience sees criminality and just generally being a scumbag as good qualities for an artist to have. That’s why Chris Brown is still one of the most popular acts out there.
And, sure, you can find similar stories in country music. Merle Haggard and David Allan Coe served time before launching their careers. But Spade Cooley and Johnny Paycheck are the only ones I can think of who committed violent crimes after they were already established. Cooley never saw the outside of a prison cell again and Paycheck ended up playing to half-empty auditoriums in Branson and releasing music on fly-by-night independent labels for the rest of his career. There were consequences for both of them.
You are correct, Trigger, that an artist like Nelly has no place in country music. From what I’m reading, Clint Black, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Chris Stapleton are also being honored and Trisha Yearwood and Brandy Clark will be performing. I don’t know much about anyone else involved, but those artists have always struck me as decent, moral people. Hopefully they will draw a line in the sand and refuse to share a stage with this man.
August 23, 2023 @ 4:35 pm
I don’t think you’ll find artists like Clint Black, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Chris Stapleton, Trisha Yearwood and Brandy Clark publicly criticising Nelly. Those artists–apart from Stapleton–are decades past their heydays and basically have to take whatever they can get from the industry. Also, there’s the whole DEI thing: you rip Nelly, you risk being tagged as a racist, and that’s about the worst tag that you can get today in this country.
I think, at best they’ll profess ignorance. Heck, the only reason I know that Nelly is controversial is from reading it here. I gather that Nelly is different from (R.) Kelly (who I believe may be in prison), but that’s about all I know about him.
August 23, 2023 @ 4:54 pm
Maybe they should’ve invited the Tri-ang Nellie model steam locomotive that appeared in a video that featured skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan doing Rock Island Line (she’s a might good road) . After all those tri-ang Nellie’s have a good track record (pun intended)
August 23, 2023 @ 5:22 pm
I guess Wallen’s verbal slip-ups are more serious than rape. He was temporarily shunned, but Nelly is embraced. Go figure.
August 24, 2023 @ 2:27 am
Remember folks, there’s always Ameripolitan. Until a true diving force breaks loose in the mainstream, we’ll continue to get more of the same. Support your TRUE country artists, especially those who refuse to compromise on their integrity.
The industry as a whole needs some deep housekeeping.
August 24, 2023 @ 4:24 am
Some of y’all commenting are trump supporters who is also an accused rapist. Why don’t you say what this is really about and you don’t like the fact that black people are involved in country music even though it was invented by us. You’re a racist pretending to take the moral high ground and that’s why you stay worried about Nelly. Talking about Morgan Walkers verbal slip. No one has racist verbal slips except racists and no excuses except racists.
August 24, 2023 @ 7:35 am
Hey Amber,
I can only speak for myself, but I can assure you this has nothing to do with not wanting to have Black people in country music. In fact, inviting Nelly to this function speaks to my frustration of how the Black artists in country music commonly get superseded by Black performers from hip-hop at these functions like Nelly. Nelly may be Black, but he’s not country. This isn’t like a dozen years ago when the only viable Black artist to highlight was Darius Rucker. There are a dozen or so Black artists they could have invited beyond Kane Brown and Breland (who isn’t really country either) who are already a part of the function that don’t have a history of raping women. But as another commenter alluded to above, they’re bringing in Nelly because they believe these actual Black country performers like Chapel Hart, Aaron Vance, Wendy Moten, and so on and so forth are not popular enough to draw eyeballs, so they discount and overlook them as opposed to trying to help develop their careers. That is why CMT constantly books Nelly, because they believe it’s good for ratings, and look the other way when it comes to credible accusations against him.
Country music owes an important part of its origin story to African Americans through the blues, as well as the banjo and minstrel music. Black people did not “invent” country music though. This is a canard sown by Academia to attempt to discount the Western European influences that also very much influenced the formation of what we consider “country music” today. Country music is for all of us, and by all of us. Don’t be baited into race hating by people that want to divide and conquer.
August 24, 2023 @ 7:41 am
Derp.
Do you defend Chris Brown too?
August 24, 2023 @ 7:42 am
Trump has actually been found liable of sexual abuse by a jury, so it’s more than an accusation.
And it’s great that black people are involved in country music. That’s been the case for a long time. Charley Pride had 52 top 10 hits in the country genre decades before the idiots on Twitter decided that Beyonce and Nelly somehow belonged in the country genre. By giving this slot to Nelly, the ACMs are denying an opportunity to the countless black artists who are actually trying to make a living in country music, could name and probably play a Charley Pride song and who have heard names like DeFord Bailey, Linda Martell and Stoney Edwards before. Hell, I’d be shocked if Nelly could even pick Darius Rucker out of a line-up.
Morgan Wallen might be able to identify Darius Rucker, but he’d fail the rest of those tests as well. So he also does not belong in the country genre. Neither of these guys belong because neither of them are country artists. The fact that they’re also enormous piles of excrement is just the icing on the cake.
August 24, 2023 @ 10:07 am
“Trump has actually been found liable of sexual abuse by a jury, so it’s more than an accusation.”
: D Feel better?
Trump is accused of multiple things, daily.
: D Feel better that you threw another dart?
How about opening your eyes & actually see what is going on in this country?
August 24, 2023 @ 10:33 am
No more comments on Trump. Not relevant here.
August 24, 2023 @ 11:34 am
Exactly.
August 24, 2023 @ 6:24 am
c’mon man, you know why he’s invited. “representation”, “diversity”, “inclusion”. pick your favorite over used buzz word. Where people like the ACM’s go wrong, is they think that bringing in a thug like Nelly, keeps the social justice idiots off of their back. FYI, It doesn’t. Country music will always be too white, too male, too straight and too conservative for most of the activist types in mainstream media.
August 24, 2023 @ 8:37 am
Crime accusations aside, Nelly has no business being in a country music awards show. I just don’t get why it’s a big ask to not have a rapper with absolutely zero ties to country music on an awards show. I mean is he even relevant enough to attract viewers to this show? I’m so far removed from mainstream music that I don’t know if Nelly’s last hit song was a year ago or 15 years ago so I could be way off here… but I doubt it
August 24, 2023 @ 8:48 am
I understand that Nelly is not a country artist, but looking back to 2004 when Nelly collaborated with Tim McGraw it was a noteworthy moment for country music and Tim McGraw. “Over and Over” is Tim McGraw’s only song to ht the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Back in 2004 collaborations with country artists were not common… especially for a rapper. I remember being weirded out when they collaborated. In 2004, this would have been considered risky- rather than baiting more plays for featured artists on streams. In my opinion, the song really worked. Under these circumstances, Nelly deserves his place with Tim McGraw on stage.
No, Nelly is not a country. No, Nelly wasn’t convicted of any crimes. I hate the double standards, but people need to stop judging artists over accusations. The accusations should be taken seriously in court, but as you mentioned we are all entitled to be given the benefit of the doubt.
I am sure there are people on that stage who have done unspeakable things that the public will never know. We are celebrating the artistic content and commercial successes of these artists.
Michael Jackson, Ryan Adams, Nelly, Jimmie Allen, John Lennon… they don’t need to be good people for people to have gotten something for the music.
August 24, 2023 @ 4:35 pm
It’s Your Love and Please Remember were in the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
August 24, 2023 @ 9:25 am
Forget ‘Rich Men North of Richmond”. More like Dumb Men North of Murfreesboro…….
August 24, 2023 @ 5:18 pm
The other accusations are serious and it’s ridiculous that he was invited, but as to the tax problems… David Allen Coe and Willie Nelson didn’t lose any esteem with me or most other country fans over tax problems lol.
August 24, 2023 @ 7:27 pm
???????????????????????? I think some might just be a lil mad because black men and women are taking over all genres of music . You know how many other music artists/ celebrities are accused of sexual assault there’s a long long list and they are still on tv and being honored but oh Nelly this big black man is being honored and yall want to take it away . He wasn’t convicted of any of these crimes so give him his fu*king respect. Buttttttt lets talk about trump who turned himself in today for all the crimes he has been charged with but still is able to run for President of the United States fuck off!But I bet half of y’all agree that he’s still should be able to run . So if y’all not jumping off that band wagon until “ he’s convicted “ then stfu.
August 24, 2023 @ 7:38 pm
Why do people keep bringing up Trump as if this is in any way relevant to this discussion? Nobody is defending Trump, or even talking about him here.
If you want a good comparison, bring up Jimmie Allen, who was accused of similar things, is a Black guy who is actually from the country music industry, and now his career has been completely destroyed due to the allegations against him. That’s a clear, unequivocal, inarguable double standard.
And just in case you think this all has to do with race, you may want to check out this site’s reporting on Diplo, who similar to Nelly, is not a country artist, has credible sexual allegations out there about him, and is also criticized for being included at country music functions. Here’s some links:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/after-multiple-claims-of-rape-grooming-diplo-accepted-at-stagecoach/
https://savingcountrymusic.com/on-sturgill-simpson-collaborating-with-diplo/
August 25, 2023 @ 6:14 am
So I was a jazz minor in college in New Orleans and worked for the local jazz magazine for years. I was seeing live jazz and funk at least 3 nights a week for a decade. My jazz, blues, funk, soul and R&B record collection is sizable. Long way of saying Im not upset by black artists in any way. What is upsetting is when someone from another genre is being forced into country because of the color of their skin, not because of talent in a given genre. Mix that with his likely criminal activities which are of the most heinous nature- and its patently absurd to force him into the country billing. Your viewpoint is clearly one who sees the world based on race….which is racist and not the anti racist you think it is. You may want to look in a mirror before accusing others.
August 24, 2023 @ 9:48 pm
You are either in the in crowd or not.
High school never ends as the song goes.
August 25, 2023 @ 2:23 am
Didn’t young women who followed music stars to after-hours “parties” used to be called “Groupies?” I guess those “parties” have become rougher affairs these days.
August 29, 2023 @ 2:02 pm
The only “Nelly” who’s ever interested me was Jacob Nelson “Nellie” Fox (b.Dec.25,1927-d. Dec.1,1975 ) a Major League Baseball Hall-Of-Fame second baseman from the late forties to the mid-sixties whose main achievement is his ability to put his bat on the ball on not strikeout.(One season,Fox went NINETY-EIGHT games between whiffs.)