John Legend I Ain't Mad at the CMA Over Beyonce I Blame American Racism
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John Legend is letting CMA honchos off the hook for scrubbing any sign of Beyonce from their award show ... 'cause he says racism is bigger than country music.
We got the singer at LAX Friday where he all but stopped short of saying country music itself has an issue with race. He clearly feels it's a problem affecting about half the country, regardless of genre.
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Rose McGowan CMA Bosses ... 'A Bunch of Chicken S***s'
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Rose McGowan is disgusted at the people who posted racist comments about Beyonce and the Dixie Chicks, but she's even more pissed off at the CMA honchos who bowed to the "deplorables" by scrubbing CMAWorld.com of all things Bey and Chicks.
Rose is reacting to the TMZ story ... the CMA bosses panicked when they saw some users lash out against Beyonce and the Chicks in the comment section of the site and on social media ... some calling Bey the n-word and others saying country music is for white folks only.
The CMAs have flip-flopped a second time ... reposting some of the items.
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Beyonce, Dixie Chicks Scrubbed from CMA Website, Social Media After Racist Fans Comment
2:45 PM PT -- The CMAs have started repopulating its social media with images of Beyonce and the Dixie Chicks. The images were only posted AFTER they became aware we were working on the story.
Even the Dixie Chicks, who rarely say anything in the media these days, are reacting to the controversy on Twitter.
Those reposted images of Bey on Instagram and Twitter are already getting blasted with comments -- some racist and some in support of Beyonce. We'll say this ... the Beyhive is woke.
The folks at the Country Music Awards don't have the stomach for 4 strong women, 1 of whom is black, because they have scrubbed all references and images of Beyonce and the Dixie Chicks from their website.
The performance of Beyonce's hit, "Daddy Lessons," with the Dixie Chicks was by all rights the highlight of the show. Thursday morning Bey and the Chicks had a prominent presence on CMAWorld.com. But check it out now ... it's gone ... completely.
Sources directly connected with the CMAs tell TMZ, the honchos folded to fans who posted racist and other harsh comments. We're told the honchos were especially concerned about the reaction to Beyonce's support and the support of the Dixie Chicks for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Some of the comments included, "That's right folks. Beyonce performed at the CMAs last night & is on a mission to take country music away from us, hardworking white people!" And, "Beyonce overrated racist n***er bitch."
The comments go on ... "@Beyonce the cop hater? No thanks," and, "What place does @Beyonce who vilifies police officers who keep us safe have to do with #CMAawards50?"
In addition to its website, the CMAs have scrubbed the women from all social media platforms. They did not delete the women from Snapchat ... they only deleted the ladies from CMA accounts where users can place comments.
We're told the CMA people "just want this to go away" and feel it was probably a mistake to invite the 4 women in the first place.
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CMA Awards 2016 It Got All Glittery Up in There!!!
The Brothers Osborne were embraced Wednesday at the 50th CMA Awards ... but guess who wasn't? -- Brooks Brothers.
No boring duds for these stars ... it was all glitter and yellow and boots for Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood ... and, of course, Dolly Parton ... who snagged the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.
BTW ... a true Sophie's Choice for country fans ... CMAs or World Series.
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J.J. Watt to Carrie Underwood: You Married a Hockey Player???
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J.J. Watt threatening to fight Carrie Underwood's hockey player husband??? That happened ... sorta.
It was all part of Watt's big comedy bit at the CMT Music Awards Wednesday night -- when Watt jokingly hit on a bunch of hot married famous chicks ... including Carrie. It culminated in a funny standoff with Mike Fisher.
Watt was actually pretty good as a co-host ... considering hosting's not really his day job.
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J.J. Watt Gone Country Hosting CMT Awards
MVP meets CMT.
J.J. Watt has officially been tapped to co-host the CMT Music Awards next month -- after impressing producers as a presenter during last year's show.
CMT announced Watt will join Erin Andrews -- who hosted the show last year along with Brittany Snow. But Snow's out -- and Watt's in.
"I am very excited to be involved in a much larger capacity this year as co-host,” Watt said.
"I can’t wait to host the awards with Erin and be part of such a great night, honoring the biggest stars in country music.”
Andrews also commented -- saying, "I can’t wait to see what antics J.J. and I will get into together."
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Timbaland I'm Going Country ... With Justin Timberlake!!
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Hip-hop and R&B producer supreme Timbaland is ready to get his twang on, y'all ... and he's gonna do it with his pal Justin Timberlake.
Timbaland was on TMZ Live Tuesday and we brought up JT bringing down the house at the CMAs with his Chris Stapleton duet. Since Timberlake and Timbaland are connected at the musical hip ... we had to know if a country record was in the works.
Tim told us, "We are country! He's from Tennessee, I'm from VA!"
Watch the rest of his answer -- it sure looks like Justin and his fav producer will be dipping their feet in the Nashville pool soon.
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Blake & Gwen Here We Are, Nashville! [TMZ TV]
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Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton finally stopped hiding from fans and cameras, and they picked country music's biggest night for their coming out.
The pic we got of their fingers interlocked -- while sipping drinks at a CMA after-party -- kinda tells the story!
Steven Tyler Forget Rebel's Rant ... Yo, Kylie Jenner, Call Me!
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Kim Kardashian and the fam have an unlikely ally in Nashville, and his name's Steven Tyler ... who's ready and willing to make room for their asses on any stage they want.
Steven was leaving a CMA after-party when we asked him about Rebel Wilson going off on the Jenner/Kardashian clan ... blasting them as talentless hacks.
Check it out ... the Aerosmith frontman did NOT hesitate to tell us where he stands on the issue.
Sorry, Rebel ... Tyler's never been one to turn down hot chicks.
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CMAs Justin, Jason and Luke Hit the Town
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Justin Timberlake, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and a ton of other stars hit the bars and other party scenes in Nashville after the CMAs.
Kacey Musgraves, Sam Hunt, Brett Eldredge, Keith Urban and others let loose. It was bigger than country this time around ... lots of crossovers.
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John Rich We Love Gwen Stefani
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Country star John Rich says there's no need to pick sides in the Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert divorce ... he's just stoked Gwen Stefani is now in the picture.
The Big & Rich singer was leaving Legends Corner after the CMA Awards Wednesday, when our photog asked about the turn of events now that Blake is dating Gwen.
Turns out John is a HUGE Gwen Stefani fan, so he was actually borderline excited.
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Carrie Underwood Suck It, Mr. President!!!
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Carrie Underwood may not be your classic country s**t-kicker, but she's definitely a s**t-stirrer ... because she got the CMA crowd all riled up Wednesday night by taking a shot at the Prez.
Carrie and Brad Paisley got all political with a reference to Taylor Swift, whom they suggested has abandoned country music.
There's a tiny bit of room for interpretation ... whether the audience is going wild over the fact that the Democrats lost the Senate, or whether Obama is so unpopular he derailed his own party.
It's the second time in 2 years Obama's been skewered at the Country Music Awards.
Oh, and Brad took a shot at TMZ, too. We'll take that as a challenge.
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CMT Awards It's a Black Thang, Y'All!!
Nelly, Darius Rucker, and Cowboy Troy hit up the CMT Awards ... on purpose -- proving country music is going the way of baseball, basketball, golf, and even hockey!
Ok, maybe not hockey. Yet.
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Black Guys At Country Music Awards WHO'D YOU RATHER?
Country singer Cowboy Troy (42), Hootie frontman Darius Rucker (47) and rapper Nelly (38) represented the African American community while walking the red carpet at the 2013 CMT Music Awards last night.