Mathew Knowles, Beyoncé’s father, is less than thrilled with the 2024 CMA Awards voting process.
Following Beyoncé’s country album, Cowboy Carter, receiving no nominations this year, Mathew, 72, voiced his opinion and shared his perspective on why the album was overlooked by voters.
Despite Cowboy Carter topping the Billboard 200 chart, Mathew told TMZ that the lack of recognition reflects ongoing racial biases. “There’s more white people in America and unfortunately they don’t vote based on ability and achievements,” he stated in an interview released on Monday, September 9. “It’s still sometimes a white and Black thing.”
While Mathew didn’t directly accuse CMA voters of racism, he implied that his daughter’s exclusion “speaks for itself.”
“In America, there’s no accountability for people not being accepting of other cultures,” he added.
Us Weekly has contacted the CMAs for their response.
In 2016, Beyoncé, 43, performed “Daddy Lessons” with The Chicks at the 50th Annual CMA Awards. Her performance announcement led to social media calls for a CMA boycott, and Billboard reported that her appearance was not mentioned on the CMAs website afterward. According to Mathew, the CMAs never issued an apology to Beyoncé.
Ahead of Cowboy Carter’s release in March, Beyoncé expressed her excitement about her foray into country music.
She showed appreciation for the support of her album’s singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” and noted on Instagram, “I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart.” She added, “My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.”
Beyoncé revealed that her album was “over five years in the making” and hinted at past experiences of feeling unwelcome in the country music scene. Although she didn’t specifically reference the 2016 CMA Awards, fans speculated about the connection.
Even though Beyoncé did not receive any nominations this year, Shaboozey, a featured artist on Cowboy Carter, is nominated for Best New Artist and Single of the Year for “A Bar Song.”
