Garth Brooks held a virtual press conference on Wednesday morning sharing news of his withdrawal from the CMA Entertainer of the Year category for the upcoming CMA Awards.
Last year, Brooks won his seventh Entertainer of the Year award. Also nominated in 2019 were Carrie Underwood and Eric Church.
During his press conference, Brooks shared a portion of a tweet that stuck with him and motivated him to make the decision to withdraw his name for future Entertainer of the Year awards. Garth didn’t share the tweet in its entirety but explained the tweet said “hey…why doesn’t he step down and leave entertainer for the next generation.”
“My number is seven. We feel very lucky with seven. And it’s time for somebody else to hold that award, know what that entertainer (of the year award) feels like, because they’re all out there busting their butts,” Brooks said.
Originally, Brooks asked Country Music Association to remove his name from the list of 2020 nominations but was denied.
“The CMA came back and said, it’s not our call. We cannot pull you out of our awards,” shared Brooks. “So today we sit here and humbly ask with all the gratefulness and love in the world, we are going to do it ourselves. We are going to pull ourselves out of Entertainer of the Year.”
Reaction on social media after Garth made his announcement first came from fellow artist Steve Warnier on Twitter who stated, “If you’ve ever seen @garthbrooks live, you know why he consistently wins entertainer of the year. There is no one as big as Garth, but more importantly there is no one as kind.”
Blake Shelton replied to Warnier’s tweet by saying, “Agreed Steve…. He is Garth Brooks. GARTH BROOKS!!! I don’t give a shit what anyone says. ANYONE. Entertainer of the century.”
Trisha Yearwood replied to both Blake and Steve by saying, “I love you boys!!@blakeshelton @stevewariner Thanks for always having my cowboy’s back!”
While Garth has removed himself from the Entertainer of the Year category, he did state he will accept a nomination in any other category at CMA Awards.
During the COVID-19 shutdown, Garth released a one night only drive-in performance, held several Facebook Live performances and continues to find ways to connect with fans amidst the cancellation of his stadium tour which began last year.
