Billy Ray Cyrus Questions Beyoncé’s Lack of CMA Award Nominations: ‘Her Album Was Brilliant’

Billy Ray Cyrus is part of the BeyHive.

The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer took to Instagram on Wednesday (Nov. 20) to reminisce on his past with the CMA Awards, which took place at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on the same day as his post. He shared two photos, a throwback snap in which he accepted the 1992 award for single of the year and another picture posing alongside Lil Nas X in 2019. “Congratulations to ALL @cma nominees! I’m so happy and proud to see country music opening their doors and format to be inclusive to all people, all styles,” he captioned the post. “@lilnasx and I won this award in 2019 for Event Of The Year… but you wouldn’t have seen it because they didn’t air it in the show.”

Cyrus then pointed out the lack of nominations for Beyoncé, whose Cowboy Carter album features his daughter Miley Cyrus on “II Most Wanted.” Cowboy Carter not only topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks, but reigned at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart for a full month. Plus, lead single “Texas Hold ‘Em” made the 32-time Grammy winner the first Black woman to hit No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs ranking, a position it held for 10 weeks.

“I was surprised to see @beyonce wasn’t nominated??? Her album was brilliant… her single ruled,” Billy Ray wrote. “But she knows that. She doesn’t need a trophy from the CMA… or permission …. or approval from any of their judges. ‘When ya knock em out…. Ya don’t need no judge’. – Muhammad Ali.”

See his post here.

Beyoncé previously stirred CMA controversy in 2016, when she performed her country-leaning song “Daddy Lessons” at the awards show alongside The Chicks. A pre-show announcement teasing her performance sparked calls for a CMAs boycott on social media and, after the performance, there was no mention of her appearance on the CMAs website.

In a March post on Instagram, the “16 Carriages” singer wrote that her Cowboy Carter album was “born out of an experience” she’d had years prior where she “did not feel welcomed,” which many fans took to be in reference to the 2016 controversy.