Musician Shaboozey has come to the defense of fellow artist Megan Moroney following an uproar that ensued over a moment between the two at the American Music Awards.
The "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" singer and Moroney presented the award for Favorite Country Duo Or Group together at the awards show on May 26.
During their presentation, Moroney's teleprompter copy contained a statement that had a lot of people scratching their heads—Shaboozey included.
When Moroney said that the Carter family "basically invented country music," Shaboozey struggled not to laugh.
Though they have rarely been treated as equals warmly by the country industry, Black and specifically African people are among the ethnic groups that were key to the creation of country music.
The genre is a blend of musical conventions brought to the South by both enslaved Africans and immigrants from the British Isles. The banjo, in fact, has its origins in Africa, while Scots, Irish and English immigrants brought the fiddle.
The earliest country songs, however, were often based on melodies stolen from enslaved Black people's hymns and spirituals.
Between that history, and the way Black artists have been treated by the fandom of the genre they helped create—the angry response to Beyoncé's country Grammy win for Cowboy Carter being the latest example—it's not hard to see why Shaboozey couldn't help but scoff a bit.
The moment quickly became a viral argument on social media.
Shaboozey later tweeted:
"When you uncover the true history of country music, you find a story so powerful that it cannot be erased…"
His post seemed to resonate with people.
But it seemed Shaboozey's reaction had been misinterpreted when social media users went after Moroney. Shaboozey showed up in the comments of one of Moroney's Instagram posts to set the record straight.
He commented:
“Just want to clear something up: my reaction at the AMAs had nothing to do with Megan Moroney! She’s an incredibly talented, hardworking artist who’s doing amazing things for country music and I’ve got nothing but respect for her."
"I’ve seen some hateful comments directed at her today, and that’s not what this moment was about. Let’s not twist the message – she is amazing and someone who represents the country community in the highest light!”
Shaboozey then took to X himself to speak on what country music represents to him: different kinds of people coming together to create.
And that spin most definitely did not resonate.
Sadly, it seems Shaboozey's posts have only brought people together to fight. The discourse has also, predictably, become a honey pot for racist country fans to insist that country music is a white art form Black people are trying to steal.
Oh, brother...
