“It’s time for someone else to hold that award and know what Entertainer feels like,” Brooks said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday. He clarified that he is also withdrawing from the CMA’s Entertainer of the Year category for future years.
Brooks said the decision came about after last year’s CMA awards, when Brooks took home his seventh CMA Entertainer of the Year award, in what was considered by some in the industry an upset win over strong fellow contenders including Carrie Underwood and Eric Church.
“There’s one tweet in there that really stuck in my head,” Brooks said. “It said, ‘Hey, man. This guy, why doesn’t he just step down (and leave) the entertainer for the next generation?’ 100% agree.”
Though Brooks has asked the CMA to remove him from upcoming EOY categories, he is still hopeful for nods and wins in other categories.
The Country Music Association released the following statement to MusicRow in response to Brooks’ press conference:
The nominees and winners of the CMA Awards are selected by the vote of eligible members of the Country Music Association and not by CMA. The long-standing CMA Awards rules do not allow individuals to remove themselves from the balloting process at any point. The 2020 CMA Awards second ballot will be emailed to eligible voting members this Friday, July 31. If voters have nominated Garth Brooks in the first round, his name will appear on the second ballot. It will then be up to voters in this second round to select their top finalists. The final 2020 CMA Awards nominees, which will consist of five nominees in each category, will be announced in the coming weeks, with a final round of voting taking place in October. We look forward to seeing who our members vote for when “The 54th Annual CMA Awards” air on ABC in November.
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