Follow-Up: Rodney Atkins Says He and His Wife Were Also Denied the CMA Red Carpet; Both Will Skip the November 18 Awards
The 60th annual CMA Awards will be held on November 18 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. After 1990s country star Sammy Kershaw posted on November 5 that he had been denied the red carpet, country singer Rodney Atkins revealed in an Instagram video and written statement on November 7 that he and his wife, singer Rose Falcon, were denied red-carpet clearance as well, and that the couple has decided not to attend this year's ceremony.
In the video, Atkins said: 'Well, apparently Sammy Kershaw and I got something in common this year. Neither one of us got approved to walk the CMA Awards red carpet. When I heard about Sammy, I thought, what a shame. He's a great guy, a sweetheart of a dude, a singing dude who spent his life representing country music. Then I found out the same thing happened to me.' He said he has always felt 'kind of an outsider' and can partly understand the decision, but that his record should speak for itself: he is having the best touring year of his career, and his new single 'The Years Are Short' could give him charting songs in three different decades.
In the written statement posted with the video, Atkins noted that his latest album, True South, reached the second round of CMA voting for Album of the Year, and that three of his songs made Country Aircheck's list of the 100 most-played country songs of the last 20 years, with 'Watching You' at No. 11. 'After more than 20 years as a CMA member and countless CMA Fests I've played for free, Rose and I were denied red-carpet clearance, just like Sammy Kershaw,' he wrote. 'So we've decided not to attend this year's CMA Awards.' Both Atkins and Falcon are CMA voting members and have been involved with the association for more than 20 years.
Atkins added that artists who helped build the foundation of country music, like Kershaw, deserve a place in its celebrations: 'Country music should never get above its raisin'.' According to country outlet Country Rebel, radio host Bobby Bones posted two videos about the snubs and called the episode a 'PR disaster for the CMAs.' This year's ceremony, hosted by Lainey Wilson, takes place on the evening of November 18. As of publication, the Country Music Association has not publicly responded to either Kershaw's or Atkins's posts.
Source: Rodney Atkins on Instagram
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：罗德尼·阿特金斯本人演出资料图（公共领域，经Wikimedia Commons），非本次颁奖礼画面。/ File photo: Rodney Atkins performing (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); not a photo from the awards.
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- 2026-11-09Follow-Up: Rodney Atkins Says He and His Wife Were Also Denied the CMA Red Carpet; Both Will Skip the November 18 AwardsThis story
