‘One cries, the other laughs’

News broke late Friday (Feb. 7) that the 2025 CMT Awards will not take place this spring. The program’s parent company, Paramount Global, axed the country music awards show along with several other events as it aims to reassess how they’ll look in the future. However, with Beyoncé fresh off a GRAMMY Award win for Best Country Album, many of the “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” singer’s fans are offering a different motive.

“The 2025 CMT Music Awards Is Canceled Because Beyoncé Already Won All of Them”

Having conquered virtually every other genre, Beyoncé has long had a fraught relationship with country music. That didn’t stop her from plunging headfirst into the genre with last year’s Act II: Cowboy Carter. The “Daddy Lessons” star made history with her country music debut, becoming the first Black woman to ever lead the Top Country Albums chart.

Predictably, Cowboy Carter sparked its share of heated online discussions about what is (and isn’t) country. Many BeyHive members were outraged when the Country Music Association shut the album out of this year’s CMA Awards nominations.

However, some might say Queen Bey got the last laugh. The “Irreplaceable” star snagged the Best Country Album trophy at last week’s 67th annual GRAMMY Awards. (Cowboy Carter also won Album of the Year, marking another first for Beyoncé.)

At the news of this year’s CMT Music Awards cancellation, many listeners made tongue-in-cheek references to Beyoncé’s CMAs snub. “The 2025 CMT Music Awards is canceled because Beyoncé already won all of them,” one fan declared on X/Twitter.

“Interesting,” another X/Twitter user wrote. “I guess people do not really not wan to see ‘ole Cowboy Carter.”

While Beyoncé fans had a bit of fun over the CMT news, other country fans were left devastated by the cancelation of their favorite award show.

“The cmt awards were OUR AWARDS SHOW. an awards show where we actually felt like were seen & heard as fans. an awards show that was actually fun to watch,” one fan wrote. “Now that’s taken from us. I guess we still have the pccas (another fan voted country awards show) but not the same.”

Why Are the 2025 CMT Music Awards Canceled?

Alas, we’ll never know if Beyoncé scored any nominations at the 2025 CMT Music Awards. In the midst of a merger with Skydance Media, Paramount Global has decided to hit pause on several other music awards show this year.

The network has also canceled the the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards Mexico and the MTV MIAWs. Formerly known as the MTV Millennial Awards, the MIAWs.honors Latin American music and youth culture.

“We are pausing a few events for 2025, as we look to reimagine and optimize our events slate going forward,” Bruce Gillmer, Paramount’s president, of music, music talent, programming and events, media networks, wrote in an internal memo obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.

Featured image by John Salangsang/Shutterstock