After another year of what many fans are calling a “massive snub” for Morgan Wallen at last Sunday’s (May 17) ACM Awards, the country music superstar has finally seemingly fired his own shots back at the show.
This year’s 61st ceremony saw a lack of attendance from country music’s biggest artists across the board, including four of the Entertainer of the Year nominees: Jelly Roll, Luke Combs, Megan Moroney, and, to no one’s surprise, Morgan Wallen. Another no-show, given he had two stops on his Country! Country! Country! Tour over the weekend, was fellow friend and collaborator, Hardy.
The “Wait In The Truck” singer posted a recap of his shows in Des Moines and Kansas City with the cover photo showing a classic snapshot of Hardy’s middle finger to the crowd, followed by a slew of concert videos and a clip of him getting inked, adding to his gallery of tour tattoos. Throwing what is most likely a clear jab towards the recent Las Vegas awards, he captioned the post, “They got a category for this…?”
Wallen then piped in with his remark, “Who’s they,” seemingly pointing out the fact that he couldn’t care less about the competition side of the industry as he continues to sit out of every show, use his awards as tire hubcaps, and the tell-all fact that he willingly held back from submitting his 2025 I’m the Problem album for Grammy consideration. Given the album’s continued mass success throughout last year, continuing to sit atop the Billboard charts, the fact that it didn’t win the ACM award for Album of the Year was quite jarring for many fans.
It was also a project that Hardy had a heavy hand in with his co-penned tracks like “I Got Better,” “I’m A Little Crazy,” “Whiskey in Reverse,” and more, so he was definitely rooting for the album to some extent.
Wallen also did not take home the award for Entertainer of the Year, with Cody Johnson receiving the honor for the first time in his career. As for Hardy, who probably also certainly feels a little disregard from the accolades, he has yet to be nominated since his last breakout 2023 ACM Awards, where he took home three awards for “Best Visual Media of the Year,” “Musical Event of the Year,” and “Artist-Songwriter of the Year.”
These two’s outspoken remarks are all the proof needed on where Hardy and Wallen stand these days on the industry-voted award shows. Not to mention, as the ACM’s viewership continues to plummet, maybe this is another tell-tale sign that their disregard for some of the genre’s biggest names (with the biggest fan bases) is only hurting their credibility.