Luke Bryan Clarifies Comments About Beyoncé’s CMA Awards Snub, Says “Tone and Intentions” Were “Not Negative”

Luke Bryan is clarifying comments he made about Beyoncé‘s lack of CMA Award nominations for her Cowboy Carter album.

While appearing on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live last week, Bryan was asked to share his thoughts on Beyoncé being snubbed from the nominees list, to which the country singer said, “Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it. But where things get a little tricky — if you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit. Like, Beyoncé can do exactly what she wants to. She’s probably the biggest star in music. But come to an award show and high-five us and have fun and get in the family, too. And I’m not saying she didn’t do that … but country music is a lot about family.”

He also had noted that though he’s “all for everybody coming in and making country albums and all that,” but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll automatically get nominated for their work given “a lot of great music is overlooked.” “Just because she made one … just ’cause I make one, I don’t get any nominations,” he said.

After Bryan’s comments, the singer took to social media on Monday to address the “false narrative” and reiterate that he never had any “negative” intent with his response.

His statement read, “I am posting tonight based on the ridiculous nature of the headlines I have read the last couple days from an interview on the Andy Cohen show I did this week when I was promoting my album. I feel in my heart I could not let media create a false narrative. As I read thru the comments of some of you I just want to say that I encourage all of you to listen to the interview instead of reading click bait headlines. You will hear my tone and intentions which were not negative. I respect Beyonce and I love how loyal her fans are. I spend a lot of time supporting other artists. I want everyone to win. Love yall.”

Prior to releasing Cowboy Carter earlier this year, Beyoncé wrote on Instagram that the album was “born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed” in country music, “and it was very clear that I wasn’t.” (Beyoncé faced backlash for her performance of her song “Daddy Lessons,” with The Chicks at the 50th annual CMA Awards in 2016.)

“But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive,” she added. “It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.”

Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” song hit the top spot on Billboard’s Hot country songs chart, making the singer the first Black woman to achieve the feat in the chart’s 80-year history. After its release, Cowboy Carter reached the No. 1 spot on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart, as well as the country and folk charts. The album garnered more than 1.5 billion streams worldwide and set records on Spotify and Amazon Music.