Country music singer John Rich recently criticized Beyoncé’s triumphs at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards as she clinched the Best Country Album trophy via Newsweek.
In a video clip that has gone viral on social media, Beyoncé briefly sat stunned at the ceremony on Sunday after Taylor Swift announced that she had won the coveted prize for her album, Cowboy Carter—becoming the first Black woman to scoop the honor.
“Wow, I really was not expecting this,” Beyoncé said as she accepted the award onstage at downtown Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena.
“I think sometimes ‘genre’ is a code word to keep us in place as artists,” the star went on, as she addressed the star-studded audience. “And I just want to encourage us to do what we’re passionate about, and to stay persistent.”
“I’d like to thank all of the incredible country artists that accepted this album,” she added. “We worked so hard on it.”
While Beyoncé’s fanbase have continued to celebrate the momentous win, country star Rich took to X, formerly Twitter, to voice his disapproval.
“Beyoncé wins ‘Best Country Album’ at The Grammys,” the Big & Rich star wrote in a post punctuated with rolling on the floor laughing emojis. “Way to go.”
Another X user responded by opining that “the Grammys had to push their agenda instead of actually honoring real country artists. Total joke!”
Using another emoji to express his thoughts, Rich branded the ceremony a “[clown] show.”
Popular conservative account Catturd described Beyoncé’s hit country album as “garbage,” prompting Rich to respond with another clown emoji.
In another post, Rich used the greater-than sign to suggest that Lainey Wilson is a more worthy artist than Beyoncé. Wilson received a Best Country Album nod for Whirlwind. Post Malone, Kacey Musgraves and Chris Stapleton were also nominated.
