When blustering Luke Bryan, a judge on American Idol, suggested that the "Texas Hold 'Em" songbird isn't truly a member of the country music family, he eliminated any possibility of Beyoncé helping the singing contest's sinking ratings with a guest appearance. As a result, the show's executives are now fuming, according to insiders who have information about the situation.
The 48-year-old hitmaker of "Nashville" appeared to defend the Country Music Association's decision not to nominate the R&B beauty's crossover album, "Cowboy Carter," after the record received no nominations, SheKnows.com reported.
During the Country Music Awards, which will take place on November 20 and will be hosted by Luke, Peyton Manning, and Lainey Wilson, Luke is heard screaming, "If you are going to make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit." I have no problem with someone coming in and making CDs in the country genre. However, there are a lot of items that are not nominated."
His comments came after Dolly Parton's apparent disapproval, in which she referred to Beyoncé's record as a "specialty album."
Luke also expressed his curiosity regarding Cowboy Carter's sales figures, despite the fact that it is on track to become the album with the most sales in 2024 for any artist other than Taylor Swift, The National Enquirer reported.
Beyoncé, born in Texas, released her first country album, quickly climbing to the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart. In its first week of release, the album sold more than 400,000 copies, more than twice as many copies as Luke's most recent album, "Born Here Live Here Die Here," in its first week sales, as per Billboard.
Even though Luke later emphasized, "I respect Beyoncé," a source said that the brass at "American Idol" are angry over his big mouth and would have been happy to have the extremely popular Beyoncé participate in the program.
When Beyoncé, at 43 years old, appeared on American Idol for the final episode of season 10 in 2011, she performed her hit song "Crazy in Love."
To bring Beyoncé back to the show as a performer and a mentor, they would give their eye teeth to make it happen. Beyoncé provides a fan following that will watch her, according to The Insider, which explains why ratings were negative during the previous season.
However, the fact that Luke called her out pretty much ended the possibility of her returning to American Idol. Beyoncé never sets foot in a place where she does not feel welcome.
Business Times has reached out to Luke Bryan and Beyonce for comments.
