The CMA Awards aired Wednesday night, and singer and co-host Brad Paisley, who is no stranger to controversy, made a racial joke about the new comedy “Black-ish” that some found extremely troubling.
Darius Rucker, one of the only Black faces in modern country music, was preparing to hit the stage when Paisley made a comment about the new ABC show “Black-ish,” which typically would have aired Wednesday night.
“If you were looking for ‘Black-ish’ tonight, yeah, this ain’t it,” said Paisley. “In the meantime, I hope you enjoy ‘White-ish.’”
Many viewers took to Twitter to call Paisley a “racist,” while others defended his comments as being all in good humor, reported USA Today.
This is the second time Paisley has made headlines for racial comments. He and rapper LL Cool J came under fire last year when the artists collaborated on the country-rap song “Accidental Racist,” which many listeners suspected to be an inappropriate approach to race and racism. Paisley sings about how he feels as if he is “walkin’ on eggshells” as a proud Southern white man who enjoys wearing Confederate Blags, while LL offers questionable lyrics like “RIP Robert E. Lee, but I’ve gotta thank Abraham Lincoln for freeing me, know what I mean.” Paisley later told Entertainment Weekly that he did not have racist intentions when creating the song, but rather, wanted to mend race relations.