NASHVILLE (CelebrityAccess) — The Country Music Association is facing backlash for not including tributes to several recently deceased artists, including the late Americana icon John Prine during their annual awards show, which took place on Nov. 11th.
The two, who married in 2013, announced on twitter that they are surrendering their lifetime CMA membership cards over the slight to one of their departed heroes.
Due to @CountryMusic’s failure to mention John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Billy Joe Shaver at the CMA’s last night, @amandashires and I have decided to return our membership cards. I doubt anybody will care, but we cared a lot about our heroes. pic.twitter.com/UmplzD0Z7p
— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) November 13, 2020
Roseanne Cash also joined in, calling out the CMA for failing to include a tribute to the late Jan Howard, who also died earlier this year.
Also no mention of Jan Howard, 50 yr member of the Opry who made dozens of albums, had a #1 single with ‘Evil On Your Mind’ and was a Grammy nominee. She died in March at the age of 91, shortly after making her last Opry appearance at the age of 90. A lifelong friend.
— rosanne cash (@rosannecash) November 13, 2020
Sturgill Simpson also called out the CMA for the lack of a tribute to Prine and in a now-deleted Instagram post featuring a video of him watching the awards, he wrote: “Literally two syllables: John Prine. That’s it. Nope,” adding, “Don’t get it twisted… wouldn’t be caught dead at this tacky ass glitter and botox cake & cock pony show even if my chair had a morphine drip. … I just wanted to see if they would say his name but nope. e. No time for Buddha…and I promise you they were asked to include him so a ‘nope, no time’ decision was made by somebody..on Veterans Day no less.”
In a statement provided to CelebrityAccess, a spokesperson for the CMA said:
“The CMA Awards broadcast historically does not include an In Memoriam segment. An In Memoriam did air in 2017 to honor the victims of the tragic shooting at Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas. In order to recognize those we have lost each year, the CMA does include an In Memoriam tribute on our website and in our annual CMA Awards Program Guide, which was mailed to CMA members ahead of this year’s broadcast. To note, this year’s In Memoriam includes those lives lost prior to the program guide’s printing deadline of October 14, 2020.”
