Reba McEntire Isn’t Happy That No Women Are Nominated for ACM Entertainer of the Year
Reba McEntire is disappointed that no women are up for ACM Awards Entertainer of the Year category in 2019, and she isn't shy about letting everyone know this.
After announcing the nominees on CBS This Morning Wednesday (Feb. 20), McEntire made her opinion clear, remarking: "It doesn't make me very happy, because we've got some very talented women out there who are working their butts off."
She added: "I'm missing my girlfriends on this list."
McEntire herself has been nominated for the EOTY honor nine times and won the category in 1994. But the last time a woman won the ACM's EOTY was all the way back in 2011, when Taylor Swift took the honor.
McEntire didn't just reserve her opinion on the matter to the actual nominees announcement. She also voiced her concern on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that night.
"There weren't any women in the Entertainer of the Year category, which I was very disappointed about that," she told Colbert. "They're great, but I wanted to hear some women in there."
McEntire's observation is just the tip of the iceberg. Besides the Entertainer of the Year issue, there is notably one less female in the New Female Artist of the Year category compared to the equivalent male category (four in the former, five in the latter).
The Songwriter of the Year category features no female nominees as well. Lori McKenna is the only female to ever win this category at the ACMs (which she achieved in 2011).
Given all this, it's legitimate that a female country icon such as McEntire is speaking out. Hopefully, more artists will take notice and use their voices as well.
McEntire is set to release her new album, Stronger Than the Truth, on Friday, April 5. She'll host the 2019 ACM Awards from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 7. The ceremony will broadcast live beginning at 8PM ET on CBS.
See Country Stars at the 2018 ACM Awards