The singer let out a laugh when Moroney said that the Carter Family “basically invented country music”

Shaboozey has spoken out after a moment between him and Megan Moroney at the  American Music Awards went viral.

The moment took place on Monday (May 26), during the 2025 edition of the music awards. On the night, the two singers took to the stage to present the award in the Favourite Country Duo Or Group category, however, one of the comments made by Moroney led to the co-presenter giving her the side eye.

“Country music has been an important part of AMA history. The very first year of this show, the award for Favourite Male Country Artist went to the great Charlie Pride,” Shaboozey began.

Moroney continued: “That same year, Favourite Female Artist went to Lynn Anderson, and this award went to the Carter family, who basically invented country music.”

It was there that the singer gave her a quick look, paused to process the comments, then let out a laugh before announcing the nominees. The moment soon went viral and became one of the most talked about aspects of the night.

The Carter Family are an American folk group who were popular in the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s and described by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum as “the first family of country music”. Hit songs included ‘Keep on the Sunny Side’, ‘Wildwood Flower’, ‘Can The Circle Be Unbroken’ and ‘Wabash Cannonball’.

Now, Shaboozey has shared a statement in relation to the on-stage moment with a series of posts on X/Twitter.

“Google: Lesley Riddle, Steve Tartar, Harry Gay, Defoe Bailey, and The Carter Family…” he wrote in one post, while another read: “When you uncover the true history of country music, you find a story so powerful that it cannot be erased…”

He then added: “The real history of country music is about people coming together despite their differences, and embracing and celebrating the things that make us alike.”

 

 

There was some debate as to what prompted the side-eye from Shaboozey on the night. The Tennessean suggested that it may have come in relation to how many tie the genre’s roots back to long before the 20th century and how it “gained renown when Black Africans were first brought to the Americas as enslaved people”.

Deadline, however, suggested that it may have come from a misunderstanding, with Shaboozey potentially thinking that Moroney was referring to Beyoncé and her ‘Cowboy Carter’ era in the comments.

Bey’s 2024 country album has seen the singer win multiple awards – including two AMAs –and her latest run of live shows has included appearances from her daughters, which may have led to Shaboozey thinking that the comments were praise for the ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ singer.

Winners at the ceremony included Rod Stewart, who was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Janet Jackson who received the Icon Award. Elsewhere, Zac Brown was presented with the inaugural Veterans Voice Award. See the full list of winners here.

Reneé Rapp is seen as a “huge inspiration” by SZA.

The 25-year-old artist performed SZA’s Good Days in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, accompanied by two acoustic guitarists and a harp player. SZA, 35, was deeply moved by the rendition.

She posted a short video of the moment on Instagram Stories and wrote: “Renee is a HUGE inspiration, energy, voice spirit.”

During her chat with the BBC, Renee shared her thoughts about the track. She said: “I mean, I love SZA. I mean, she was one of my favorite artists in high school. And she's remained one of my favorite artists to this day. I think she's amazing. She's also, I mean, she's an incredible songwriter, but I think because she has so much swag. People don't realize how good of a singer she is. She's a fantastic vocalist and is really, really, really articulate. And I don't cover a lot of songs anymore. So I wanted to cover something that was, like, slightly challenging and also really vocally impressive, and frankly, hard for me to do.”

Renee is currently in the middle of promoting her second album, Bite Me, and opened up about how much more enjoyable it was to create compared to her first project.

She explained: “I mean, I feel like everything was incredibly different. I stopped listening to people that don't make music, because if you don't make music, then why the hell am I listening to you. And I also think the biggest difference, I think I just got a lot better. I think I have just become a better songwriter. I think I understand how to make pop music now in a way that I didn't really before. And I was very sure about what this album was and thematically, what it needed.

“So I felt like I was quite like, headstrong in like, what was gonna work and what wasn't. Because, nobody knows something better than yourself. I think a lot of things were different. I also just, like, had a lot of fun making it, like, I made it with like, three people, mostly, like, it was always like, four of us in the studio all the time, and we got so close, and some of us were already so close. So it was also just like a mess. It was such a mess, like we were just tweaking every day. It was so fun. And I don't think I enjoyed making the first one as much.”

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