When Shaboozey offered Megan Moroney a well-timed side-eye on the AMAs stage, the internet clocked it in real time. And as far as side-eyes go, this one came with history.
During the 2025 American Music Awards on May 26, the “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” artist and rising country star Megan Moroney stepped onto the Fontainebleau Las Vegas stage to announce the Favorite Country Duo or Group winner. What seemed like a routine presenter moment quickly turned into a viral flashpoint.
“Country music has been an important part of AMA history,” Shaboozey, 30, began. “The very first year of this show, the award for Favorite Male Country Artist went to the great Charley Pride.”
A needed namecheck. Pride, who passed away in 2020, was a trailblazer and one of the few Black artists to break through the genre’s historically white walls.
Then Moroney picked up her line: “That same year, Favorite Female Artist went to Lynn Anderson. And this award went to the Carter family, who basically invented country music.”
Cue the glance. Shaboozey’s quiet chuckle and knowing look said what history books often don’t.
The next day, the Nigerian-American artist set the record straight on his shady reaction. First, he took to Instagram to defend the hateful comments he had seen directed at Moroney.
“Just want to clear something up: my reaction at the AMAs had nothing to do with Megan Moroney,” he commented under Moroney’s Instagram post. ““I’ve seen some hateful comments directed at her today, and that’s not what this moment was about. Let’s not twist the message — she is amazing and someone who represented the country community in the highest light.”
He then moved to X where he wrote: “When you uncover the true history of country music, you find a story so powerful that it cannot be erased…”
“The real history of country music is about people coming together despite their differences, and embracing and celebrating the things that make us alike,” he added in a separate tweet.
While the Carter Family, a trio made up of A.P. Carter, Sara Dougherty Carter, and Maybelle Addington Carter, is widely celebrated as country royalty, their legacy can’t be separated from Lesley Riddle, a Black guitarist who helped A.P. Carter collect songs in the early 1900s. According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Carter Family helped popularize country harmonies and standards, but it’s voices like Riddle’s that helped shape the very foundation of their sound.
Time magazine has noted that country music owes a profound debt to African and African-American traditions. However, that fact has often been pushed aside thanks to decades of whitewashed marketing and the gatekeeping of Nashville’s commercial country industry.
Shaboozey’s AMA moment joins a growing wave of Black country artists and cultural critics rewriting the narrative and reclaiming space.
From Hank Williams’ mentorship under Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne to DeFord Bailey’s groundbreaking Grand Ole Opry debut, Black creativity not only contributed but also helped create the genre. Most recently, Beyoncé dedicated her 2025 Grammy nominations and wins for her album “Cowboy Carter” (a title some fans think also nods at the genre’s shady history) to Linda Martell, the first Black woman to release a country album.
“I want to dedicate this to Miss Martell, and I hope we just keep pushing forward, opening doors. God bless you all. Thank you so much,” Beyoncé said during her acceptance speech.
With artists like Shaboozey, Beyoncé, Tanner Ardell, and more holding the mic and using it with intention, the genre’s future might finally start to reflect its full past.
