Fans Are Furious With Zac Brown Band After Their Shocking CMT Acceptance Speech

Megan Stein
Photo credit: Getty
Photo credit: Getty

From Country Living

  • The Zac Brown Band won Group Video of the Year at the 2019 CMT Awards.

  • Zac gave a bold acceptance speech, and some were offended at his choice in language.

The 2019 CMT Awards were filled with delightful moments from stars like Carrie Underwood, Maren Morris, Tanya Tucker, and more. But there was one comment from a country group that everyone is still debating.

Zac Brown Band is known for their summery southern hits like “Chicken Fried” and “Toes,” so it comes as no shock that they were nominated for Group Video of the Year at last night’s show. They ended up winning for “Someone I Used to Know,” and promptly walked on stage for their acceptance speech. Things got a little dicey, however, when Zac said the following:

“For you young artists, have courage to stand up against the machine, be yourself, work hard, and one day you can stand up here and tell all the haters to f*** off.”

Though his words were inspirational at heart, many took issue with the language he chose to share on what some deem a “family show.” The responses ranged from “so completely unnecessary!” to “tacky.”

Some longtime supporters even felt personally offended. “Hmm a lot of those ‘haters’ are people who paid to see them for 10+ years,” one person said. Another added, “Whatever happened to being grateful that your talent got you an award not to mention the fans. I’ll never listen to a Zac Brown song the same ever again. It’s about class.”

On the flip side, Zac had plenty of people who had his back and reminded those watching that he was likely not speaking out about his listeners. “Do you seriously think [Zac Brown Band] was referring to the fans,” someone wrote. “He was referring to the country music industry that basically acted as if ZBB didn’t exit or the last 5 years or so.”

Whether you “could have done without the filthy language,” or thought his words were “pretty awesome,” there’s no denying the Zac Brown Band won the most polarizing speech of the night.

('You Might Also Like',)