Bobby Bones issued a public service announcement to the Board Of Directors at the Country Music Association (CMA) in addition to opening up about Morgan Wallen being snubbed from this year’s CMA voting ballot.
On Wednesday (July 14) morning, the iHeartRadio on-air personality chatted with Amy Brown and producer Eddie on The Bobby Bones Show about CMA voting ballots and how Eddie‘s kids helped him choose who to vote for on this year’s ballot.
Following the discussion, Bones opened up about Morgan Wallen being deemed ineligible from winning an award at this year’s CMA Award ceremony. He chatted with Amy Brown and Eddie about Wallen being snubbed from the ballot and even admitted that everyone deserves a second chance and that people need to move on from the past.
“Morgan Wallen’s not allowed to win a CMA himself but he’s allowed if he wrote a song and the song gets it. Like he can win it with other people because they didn’t want to eliminate the other people,” Bones explained.
Bones then added, “So, there’s a group of people that are fighting to make sure he wins nothing, even if he was it.”
“Why?” Brown asked, before Bones replied, “that’s what I said, I said ‘move on.’ If he is going to go away, come back and go ‘hey I feel good, I’ve some mistakes, I’ve made a big mistake. Let me try to move forward,’ he can’t win a single award, that just doesn’t seem like a fight that’s worth fighting.”
“No, not at all and it seems exhausting,” Brown added. “Now if he was displaying other behavior that didn’t seem like he felt like he wanted to repair anything then okay, I guess put a little effort into that. But I mean I just don’t understand that at all and for other people to be attached to him to be like ‘oh great…’”
“Let’s say he writes ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’ and there four writers on it and that song wins song of the year, can the other three still win and he just not even get it as a songwriter? But he should,” Bones admitted.
“He should get it, it’s work,” Eddie commented.
Bones then explained that while it is a sensitive situation, he knows that Wallen went away and worked on himself long enough to come back and be a better person and that he has been penalized more then enough.
“It is definitely a sensitive situation but with me, the guy went away for a long time,” the Breaking Bobby Bones star explained. “He said hey i’m going to go and do XYZ and come back and be a better person because of it. I’m taken him for his word. The problem with living in glass houses and throwing stones is that you’re going to get one back at you. And so, Let the guy… if he wins a songwriters award, if he wins.. you got to let him have the award and I hope, hopefully that CMA doesn’t get bullied into being like oh we got to be… cause he’s already been penalized, he can’t win an award by himself.”
“So like when is enough time?” Brown asked before Bones said, “Are we going to ban him from watching the show? You know Morgan Wallen cannot watch the show this year. Put a blindfold on him.” Bones later adding, “Come on. I’m a big believer in second chances, i’ve had a few. When I got fined a million dollars by the FCC, there’s no reason I should’ve been back on the air, except for people said ‘hey, he’s an idiot but he’s our idiot and we believe in him.’”
He concluded the discussion with a PSA to the Board Of Directors at CMA, “If I could say something to the CMA Board, don’t listen to vocal minority, listen to the silent majority, who’s going ‘let’s just have our show.’”
Bones requests that the whole country music community just come together and move on until they are told otherwise.
“Let’s all just hold hands, the whole country music community and move on until we are told not to. If he comes out and does something else ridiculous, then we kind of have to re-evaluate and go well ok maybe this isn’t for him.”
“He’s going [to go on] to be a massive star,” Bones added. “He’s going to win every award from now on, and then that’s it. The end. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk folks.”
See the full discussion on The Bobby Bones Show in the clip above.
Bones discussion about Wallen comes after the CMA Awards deemed Wallen ineligible for certain awards earlier this year.
In late May 2021, the Country Music Association revealed Wallen’s eligibility for the upcoming CMA Awards, in which the board of directors decided that the “Sand In My Boots” singer is able to be nominated for awards that recognize his musical work, including Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and more, “so as to not limit the opportunity for other credited collaborators.”
However, according to CMA spokesperson Catharine McNelly, the CMA board of directors also deemed Wallen ineligible for nominations in categories that recognize the artist individually like Entertainer Of The Year and Male Vocalist Of The Year.
Additionally, the nationally syndicated radio host previously opened up about Wallen on air during The Bobby Bones Show, explaining that while he is a supporter of Wallen and his music, he is also an advocate for the country superstar to go away for a while to seek the help he needs while also learning about himself.
“I like Morgan Wallen as a person. This, I don’t like one bit,” Bones said. “I’m also not a big cancel culture guy. But I am a go-away-for-a-while guy… He’s got a lot of self-evaluation to do. A lot. I think he knows that… I am an advocate of Morgan going away for a while. But I’m also an advocate of him learning and coming back and being able to help others. The only way you become not an idiot is by learning why you are an idiot.”
See the video from early February when Bones’ previously spoke out on the Wallen situation below.
