Speaking out. Brittany Aldean responded to a fan who asked for her opinion on the 2023 CMT Awards, which featured host Kelsea Ballerini performing with drag queens to spite increasing anti-trans legislation in America.
“Just over here waiting on your thoughts on CMT Awards … 🙌,” a social media user commented on the 33-year-old American Idol alum’s Instagram account on Sunday, April 2.
“Didn’t watch ❤️,” Brittany — whose controversial comments about the transgender community sparked a highly publicized feud with Maren Morris last year — replied to the follower.
Ballerini, for her part, took to the stage at Sunday night’s awards show in Austin, Texas, to perform a rendition of her hit “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too)” alongside drag queens Kennedy Davenport, Manila Luzon, Jan Sport and Olivia Lux. The “Blindsided” artist, 29, who cohosted the event with Kane Brown for the third year in a row, told Entertainment Tonight, “I love performance and I love self-expression and I love inclusivity.” The number came weeks after the introduction of Tennessee Senate Bill 3 (a.k.a the Tennessee drag ban), which would ban the public “adult cabaret performance” in front of children.
Brittany — who shares son Memphis, 5, and daughter Navy, 4, with husband Jason Aldean — faced backlash last year after making comments about “changing” gender that many slammed as transphobic.
“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✌🏼,” the beauty blogger wrote via Instagram in August 2022 while sharing a makeup tutorial with fans. The “If I Didn’t Love You” singer, who married Brittany in 2015, agreed with his wife. “Lmao!! I’m glad they didn’t too, cause you and I wouldn’t have worked out 😂,” he responded.
After Cassadee Pope weighed in — “You’d think celebs with beauty brands would see the positives in including LGBTQ+ people in their messaging,” she wrote via Twitter several days later — Morris, 32, agreed in her own response, writing via social media that it was “so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human.”
After further telling Brittany to “sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie,” the apparel owner began selling T-shirts on her website that read, “Don’t tread on our kids” in Barbie-style font.
Brittany’s controversial apparel — which includes adult-sized tees that read “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Liberals” and kids’ shirts that say “Conspiracy Theorist in Training” — was quickly criticized on social media after the shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School last week.
“As we fly over Nashville tonight, all I can do is stare out of this airplane window at our devastated city below. My mind is consumed with the pain and heartache impacting this entire city. The victims. The children. The teachers. The families. The school staff. The responding officers. There are no words,” Brittany penned via Instagram in the aftermath of the school shooting, which killed three students and three adults. “Now is not the time for a political debate (on my page). Lives have been lost. Hearts are forever broken. Families are devastated. Let’s lift up these angels in prayer. Ask God to give these families the strength to make it through the unimaginable days ahead.”
As followers weighed in on the mass shooting in the comments section, many disagreed with Brittany’s stance and felt that it was the time to discuss politics — specifically gun control. One follower appeared to remark on the divisiveness of the singer’s conservative T-shirts.
“The divide is there whether I make shirts or not. I speak on behalf of conservatives considering we are all crucified for saying anything,” Brittany replied. “Don’t come for me on my page about the ‘divide’ that is so prevalent elsewhere. This post is not about politics. Please take that to another space.”
