Rapper Shaboozey served up some serious side-eye as he presented an award at the AMAs, after his co-presenter Megan Moroney made a questionable comment about the history of country music.
The pair was about to present the award for Favorite Country Duo or Group at the American Music Awards when Georgia-born Moroney said folk and country legends the Carter Family “basically invented” the genre.
The family started a three-decade period of dominance in the folk and country genre in the 1920s. They did not, however, “invent” country music, as Moroney, who has had hits with “Am I Okay?” and “Tennessee Orange,” claimed onstage in Las Vegas.
Shaboozey, real name Collins Obinna Chibueze, appeared to recognize that. When Moroney read the comment from a teleprompter, the Virginia-born rapper stopped in his tracks and raised his eyebrow at the 27-year-old.
The awkward moment came after Shaboozey, best known for his No. 1 hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” remarked on the first American Music Awards held in 1974. He said: “Country music has been an important part of AMA history. The very first year of this show, the award for Favorite Male Country artist went to the great Charley Pride.”
Moroney then continued to read from the script. “That same year, Favorite Female Artist went to Lynn Anderson,” she said, “And this award (Favorite Country Duo or Group) went to the Carter Family, who basically invented country music.”
Her co-presenter, 30, laughed quizzically and continued reading from the prompter. Neither artist has commented on the exchange since, but Shaboozey’s reaction quickly went viral. Social media lit up with comments like “If you knew country music history, you’d know why he shot her that look.”
Country music in the United States doesn’t have a single inventor—it’s a genre that evolved from a blend of musical traditions brought by immigrants, shaped by rural American life, and nurtured by early recording artists and radio.
While the Carter Family left an indelible mark on the genre, they were heavily influenced by a Black man, guitarist Lesley Riddle.
He met family patriarch A.P. Carter around 1928, starting a relationship that honed their musical output. Riddle is credited with teaching many songs to the family, as well as showing daughter Maybelle Carter how to perform her distinctive guitar lick.
Country music publication Holler commented that the remark from the AMAs script “diminishes the influence of African-American musicians such as Lesley Riddle, Arnold Schultz and Rufus Payne.”
That is particularly surprising, Holler said, given that proponents of the genre have collectively embarked on a concerted effort in recent years to highlight the true extent of Black influence.
Some argue that the faux pas reinforces the point that Beyoncé made with Cowboy Carter. The album, which won Favorite Country Album, nods to the genre’s instrumental Black figures being overlooked.
Beyoncé dedicated the award to trailblazing Black country artist Linda Martell.
Martell, now 83, became the first commercially successful Black female country artist and the first to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
Shaboozey also features on Cowboy Carter and performed with Beyoncé during her halftime show at the NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans on Christmas Day last year.
