The mention of Maren Morris‘ name by Jason Aldean led to a chorus of boos at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. during Jason’s Oct. 14 concert. The crowd booed the “My Church” hitmaker after the 45-year-old country crooner teased the identity of a special guest he was about to bring on stage. “I thought, man, who could I call?” he began in the below video. “I got some friends in town. I could call Luke Bryan. I could call Kane Brown. See if Kenny Chesney’s here and not at the beach.” He then mentioned Maren’s name and paused, allowing room for the booing. He eventually brought out Morgan Wallen, who was previously banned from the 2021 Billboard Music Awards for carelessly using the N-word after a night out on the town with his friends.
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The slight dig at Maren, 32, came almost two months after she ignited a feud with Jason and his wife, Brittany Aldean, by calling her a “scumbag” after she made a seemingly anti-trans statement. “I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life,” Brittany, 34, captioned a makeup transformation video on Instagram, which can be seen here. “Lmao!! Im glad they didn’t too, cause you and I wouldn’t have worked out,” her country star hubby replied under the post with a laughing emoji.
Country singer Cassadee Pope, 33, saw the Instagram post and immediately slammed Brittany for her comment. “You’d think celebs with beauty brands would see the positives in including LGBTQ+ people in their messaging. But instead here we are, hearing someone compare their ‘tomboy phase’ to someone wanting to transition. Real nice,” she tweeted. Maren then responded to Cassadee’s tweet with a dig of her own. “It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human?” she stated. “Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.”
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After the Twitter comments, Brittany went on Fox News to talk to Tucker Carlson about the backlash she received. During the interview, the conservative news host called Maren a “lunatic country music person.” She fought back once again by creating t-shirts with the phrase and selling them to support GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program and the Trans Lifeline. The sales raised more than $150,000 in funds, according to Us Weekly.
Maren opened up about the drama both directly and indirectly in September interviews. Speaking on Apple Music Country’s PROUD Radio in late September, she talked about feeling alone in the country world when it comes to people with a platform that are willing to stand up against bigotry. “I try to rise above — not even bad behavior, but just expected behavior that has become normalized that is bad,” the mom of one explained. She later added, “I don’t need to feel like I have to always be that person that speaks up. I think I come across a lot louder than I actually am because everyone else is so quiet.”
She shared similar thoughts while chatting with the Los Angeles Times that month. “I hate feeling like I need to be the hall monitor of treating people like human beings in country music. It’s exhausting,” she said. “But there’s a very insidious culture of people feeling very comfortable being transphobic and homophobic and racist, and that they can wrap it up in a joke and no one will ever call them out for it. It just becomes normal for people to behave like that.”
She also noted the drama might cause her to skip out on the Country Music Awards in November. “I’m very honored that my record is nominated. But I don’t know if I feel at home there right now,” she told the publication. “So many people I love will be in that room, and maybe I’ll make a game-time decision and go. But as of right now, I don’t feel comfortable going.”