Hip-hop and alt-country star Shaboozey had one of the biggest breakouts in music this year.
The artist’s song “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has sat on the charts for 18 weeks, becoming the longest-running No. 1 Billboard hit this year. According to Billboard, the song is one week away from outpacing Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ country rap hit “Old Town Road” which had a record of 19 weeks at the top of the charts. Shaboozey even worked on two songs with Beyoncé on “Cowboy Carter.”
Additionally, Shaboozey was just nominated for six Grammys including song of the year. And it initially appeared that the country music crowd had embraced him as well after he received CMA Awards nominations for new artist and song of the year.
Unfortunately at the 58th CMA Awards Thursday evening, Shaboozey walked away empty-handed. The artist lost the best new artist award to Megan Moroney and the best song category to country figurehead Chris Stapleton for his song “White Horse.” While these losses upset his fans who tuned in, what ignited a firestorm online was how Shaboozey was treated during the three-hour telecast.
Most of the comments aimed at Shaboozey amounted to mocking his name. At the start of the show, host Luke Bryan mentioned that the buzzy musician was performing later in the night. Bryan referred to his song “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” joking “Yeah, we call that a sha-doozey.”
“That is not what we call that,” co-host Lainey Wilson said. Peyton Manning, who also hosted, added, “Yeah, that does not sound right at all.”
Wilson and Manning highlighted that the song had become an overnight hit, dominating the charts. Then Bryan responded, “His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Shaboozey, must be so proud.”
Later in the evening, Manning exclaimed “Holy Shaboozey!” to transition between acts.
Making Shaboozey’s name a punchline and a gimmick, however, distracts from him as an artist. The Nigerian-American’s real name is Collins Obinna Chibueze. In his career, he opted for the stage name Shaboozey – a nickname given to him by a former football coach – because it is a more easily pronounced version of his given name. The artist said when growing up in Virginia, many people could not pronounce his full name.
“Hearing your name [mispronounced] during attendance was always a thing; you felt like you had to make it easier for everyone else to understand,” he told Billboard last month.
The derision about Shaboozey’s name continued through the night. During Cody Johnson’s acceptance speech for his album of the year win, one of Johnson’s producers caught the crowd off guard with a surprising comment.
In the speech, Trent Willmon, said, “This is for this cowboy who’s been kicking Shaboozey for a lot of years.”
The comment left viewers at home unsure whether Willmon was making a distasteful remark at Shaboozey or making fun of his name. People online came to Shaboozey’s defense like country music editor Billy Dukes who said fans deserved an explanation for “Trent Willmon’s Shaboozey comment. That tarnished CoJo’s win.”
A viral post on X also said, “The fact that Shaboozey didn’t win a single Country Music Award despite having the #1 country song for like 3 months straight is proof that they don’t want somebody Black to be the face of country music.”
Rolling Stone writer Larisha Paul wrote, “Willmon’s unprovoked jab at the artist highlights the unfortunate normalization of Black culture being diluted to make it more accessible to people who won’t make a conscious effort to learn anything about it.”
Paul continued, “[Shaboozey] walked in a winner. And the poorly written remarks that the hosts read off of a teleprompter don’t change that. But his first year at the show should have opened the door for him to be welcomed. Instead, it was arguably slammed in his face.”
Outside all the chatter, Shaboozey addressed the growing controversy with good grace. The musician posted a photo of himself smiling with his arms up like a shrug. The caption read, “Ain’t nobody kicking me!”
In a series of posts, Shaboozey also said, “Win or lose, I’m blessed by something or someone that has a power beyond my understanding.” He continued, “I’m here today hopefully living in my purpose and if my music makes even the tiniest positive impact in someone’s life I can die with a smile. Country music changed my life, and I’m forever grateful to it and for it.”
