Chris Stapleton Cleans Up at (and After) the 2023 ACM Awards

Chris Stapleton won the Academy of Country Music Awards’ top honor on Thursday evening (May 11), when he was named entertainer of the year.

This marked the first entertainer of the year trophy in his career, though he has been a dependable bet as an awards show winner since breaking through in 2015. Stapleton has three ACM male artist of the year honors and three album of the year wins (forTraveller, Starting Over and From A Room: Vol. 1) to his credit, as well as a trophy for songwriter of the decade.

Even so, the Kentucky native has always been known for his down-to-earth demeanor, and the 2023 ACM Awards was no different.

After the awards show concluded, Getty Images photographer John Shearer was still in the main room at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas — as was Stapleton, who, in an impromptu moment as the singer-songwriter and his team were exiting the room, happened to pitch in as workers began cleaning up. A photo taken by Shearer captures Stapleton — still in his awards attire of a suit jacket and jeans — with a leaf blower in hand, clearing out confetti that had landed on the floor near the stage.

Shearer shared the photo on his Instagram page, and comments poured in — including from Stapleton’s wife and fellow singer Morgane Stapleton.

“Love this so much,” Morgane commented on the photo.

The country star also shared the photo on his social media accounts, alongside a quote from another of the evening’s big winners, album of the year and female artist of the year winner Lainey Wilson, who said during one of her acceptance speeches, “If you’re gonna be a dreamer, you better be a doer.”

Stapleton’s ACM entertainer of the year acceptance speech was equally humble.

“I’m shocked, truly. By any imaginable metric, I don’t deserve this,” he said from the stage. “There are so many other great people in this category. I get up there and try to play music every night. I write songs and make records and I never thought of myself as someone who would win this award. He also thanked his wife and team, before dedicating the award to his children.

The ACM Awards is produced by Dick Clark Productions. DCP is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a Penske Media Corporation (PMC) subsidiary and joint venture between PMC and Eldridge. PMC is the parent company of Billboard.