The 2017 CMT Awards Address This Year's Biggest Controversy...The Man Romper!

The CMT Awards have long been heralded as the most wild of all the country music awards shows, having never pulled any punches in the past in taking shots at the current political and social stories of the moment.

That said, the 2017 edition of the awards , held June 7 in Nashville, for the most part shied away from controversial subjects, choosing instead to concentrate on safe subjects such as the city’s Stanley Cup dreams and close-ups of Nicole Kidman.

However, there was one highly charged subject the show chose to address: Host Charles Esten (who plays Deacon Clayborne on ABC’s Nashville) took the stage mid-show in one of this year’s most debated fashion statements: The Man Romper.

The much-maligned garment has been the subject of countless viral memes, mostly disparaging, but Esten cut a game figure in his – relatively tasteful – neutral romper. Still, he seemed relieved to change back into his more traditional pants and jacket, commenting judicially, “This is not for everyone.”

The 2017 CMT Awards were held live June 7 at Nashville’s Music City Center.