ABC/Image Group LAOK, everybody take a breath. The Country Music Association didn’t remove an online promo clip of Beyoncé performing with the Dixie Chicks because of any backlash. They removed it because Beyoncé’s people asked them to.
Lots of people found the R&B star’s performance of her song “Daddy Lessons” with the Dixie Chicks to be one of the highlights of Wednesday night’s CMA Awards telecast on ABC. Some people also didn’t like it, citing Beyoncé’s pro-Black Lives Matter and police reform activism. Dixie Chicks earned some online trolling, too, for their participation.
So when the promo clip went missing from ABC.com and the CMA Facebook page, many were quick to accuse ABC and the CMA of bowing to pressure. Not so.
In a statement, the CMA says they “[have] not erased any mentions of Beyoncé’s performance on the CMA Awards,” noting that the five-second clip was removed because it wasn’t approved to be posted in the first place. Further, the New York Times reports it was Beyoncé’s own people who asked it be taken down.
“Beyoncé’s team hadn’t approved that, so we pulled it down,” said CMA exec Sara Trahern. “Fans can get kind of passionate and read other things into it.”
The only video Beyoncé’s camp authorized, the New York Times reports, is the performance video, which remains on the CMA Awards show website.
“Beyoncé’s performance with Dixie Chicks was a highlight of the evening and we are continuing to share the amazing full-length performance clip via our official social channels,” the CMA statement declares.
For their part, the Dixie Chicks tweeted a link to the song on Beyoncé’s SoundCloud, with the comment, “If we all turn this up really loud, together we can drown out the hate.”
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