Plenty of people had a lot to say after figuring out that six-time CMA Entertainer of the Year Garth Brooks lip-synced during his performance at the 51st annual CMA Awards on November 8. While singing his latest single “Ask Me How I Know,” some Twitter users were quick to point out that Brooks wasn’t singing live.
Pretty sure this is a @garthbrooks #lipsync fail on the #cmaawards2017 pic.twitter.com/hmql2rROMv
— Matt Edwards (@realredboy) November 9, 2017
After he won the night’s biggest award, he went to the press room to speak to reporters about his huge win and admit that he did, in fact, lip sync.
“We made a game-time call on whether to sing to a track or lip-sync,” Brooks told the room of reporters. “And we decided to lip-sync it.”
Brooks revealed that he was in the middle of doing 12 shows in 10 days and that he was a bit under the weather.
“We decided to lip-sync it because my voice just isn’t going anywhere, and we wanted to represent country music the best we can.”
The Internet did not take it easy on him, but he did have two major country stars defend him. Both Blake Shelton and Randy Travis took to Twitter to speak their mind on the matter, and Brooks should be happy that they’re in his corner.
“Hey @garthbrooks,” Shelton tweeted. “I still love you. #hero #respect.”
Travis retweeted Shelton’s sentiment and also added, “We love ya @garthbrooks #icon.”
In another tweet, the Country Music Hall of Famer wrote, “A friend, a man, an artist who gives ALL, always! Our family in music should be the 1st to understand – after you walk in our shoes, get back with us!”
Check out the tweets below.
Hey @garthbrooks… I still love you. #hero #respect
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) November 10, 2017
We love ya @garthbrooks #icon https://t.co/lwrZDGr520
— Randy Travis (@randytravis) November 11, 2017
.@garthbrooks A friend, a man, an artist who gives ALL, always! Our family in music should be the 1st to understand—after you walk in our shoes, get back with us! -RT https://t.co/IMR1nIg3Ze
— Randy Travis (@randytravis) November 13, 2017
Check out Brooks’ performance at the CMA Awards below.