Bunnie Xo Hits Back at Criticism That She Has a ‘Fake Love’ with Husband Jelly Roll After Quick Red Carpet Kiss

The ‘Dumb Blonde’ podcast host said Jelly had to continue taking pictures, so she didn’t want to get lip liner on him

Bunnie Xo has a message for critics with something to say about her feelings for her husband Jelly Roll.

Bunnie accompanied the country star to the 2025 ACM Awards in Texas earlier this month, and shared a quick peck with the “Need a Favor” singer on the red carpet.

But according to a clip from her Dumb Blonde podcast shared on TikTok, it seems the kiss sparked an outpouring of criticism from followers who deemed it a reflection of Bunnie’s feelings toward Jelly.

“Can we talk about how everyone in the comments is so mad at how I kissed my husband on the red carpet?” she said in the clip. “They’re like, ‘She’s not really with him. That was a fake kiss. This is fake love. Ew, can you believe the way she kissed him?’”

Bunnie, 45, defended herself, explaining that while on a red carpet, she’s inundated with cameras, and has to be thoughtful about how she kisses Jelly, 40, and for how long.

“If I lingered on his lips for longer than 10 seconds, you guys would be like, ‘Ah, she’s still a whore! Get a room, this is disgusting! This is a family awards show!’” she said. “I have lip gloss on, I have an entire face [of makeup on]. My husband has to continue taking pictures after that kiss, so does he want lip liner and freaking gloss all over his face? No!”

The podcaster went on to say that “every time” she walks a carpet with Jelly, whom she married in 2016, photographers ask the pair to kiss, despite not making the same requests of other couples. Though Bunnie said she’s happy to oblige, she never wants things to get too intimate, and feels the same way when she’s with him on stage.

Jelly Roll and Bunnie DeFord attend the 60th Academy of Country Music Awards at Omni Frisco Hotel at The Star on May 08, 2025 in Frisco, Texas.Jason Kempin/Getty

“People had a problem with how I was kissing him on stage. First, it was that I was kissing him too much. Then it was, ‘Oh, she doesn’t like him. She doesn’t even want to kiss him,’” Bunnie recalled. “As the brand has grown, we are in front of children. We are in front of families. My husband is singing ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah,’ you want me to f—— lick his balls right there on stage? Like, what do you want me to do?”

Regardless of what social media has to say, real life is nothing but love for Bunnie and Jelly Roll, who said on The Pivot podcast in March that their marriage just “keeps getting better.”

“I guess we went through the hardest s— the first few years because, man, it’s only getting smoother,” he said. “It’s not even more like I’m just settled in. Like, it’s not even that old stale marriage where they’re just like, you know, like, we’re roommates. You know what I mean?”

Jelly Roll and Bunnie XO at the 59th Academy of Country Music Awards from Ford Center at The Star on May 16, 2024 in Frisco, Texas.Christopher Polk/Getty

“It’s like, we’re just really getting better,” the star continued. “Dude, I love her, man … That’s my partner, man … I used to hate it when people go, ‘That’s my person.’ But I’m like, she’s my person. You know what I’m saying? Like, that’s my person, dude.”

In November, the “Amen” singer revealed to PEOPLE that the two never spend more than two weeks apart as a rule.

“Fourteen days has been our rule kind of from the beginning,” he said. “We actually just implemented that same rule with our 1[7]-year-old [daughter Bailee]. Because we realized that we were going a month or two at a time without seeing her, and I was like, this just needs to be family.”

He also described Bunnie as “the person you show up to when the chips are down.”