Editor’s note, March 19, 2024, 1:20 pm: On March 19, 2024, Beyoncé posted on Instagram that her upcoming album, Act II: Cowboy Carter — the first two singles from which are propelling her to the top of the Hot Country Songs chart — was inspired by “an experience [she] had years ago where [she] did not feel welcomed ... and it was very clear that [she] wasn’t.” Some speculate she was referring to this 2016 CMAs performance with the Chicks. (The Chicks changed their band name in 2020, after this piece was published). For more on how that performance was received at the time, check out this piece below.

Even if you want to, it’s impossible to forget a Beyoncé performance. Just ask the Country Music Association.

On Wednesday, Beyoncé performed with the Dixie Chicks at the CMA Awards — one of the biggest stories of the awards show and one of the biggest stories of the entire night. The performance wasn’t as show-stopping as Bey’s Super Bowl halftime appearance or her VMAs performance, but it was still riveting in that you had the biggest music superstar on the planet play at a music awards show that doesn’t necessarily align with her established genre. (She performed “Daddy Lessons” a country song off her album Lemonade.)

But even though Beyoncé is considered a deity by millions of adoring fans, a backlash quickly gained momentum. Some viewers responded to the performance by tweeting and vocalizing their displeasure with the singer. Some of their sentiment was due to Beyoncé’s liberal-leaning politics, some of it was rooted in her perceived lack of country cred, and some of it was downright racist.

Grumbling responses to awards show musical performances are nothing new (see: the Chainsmokers at the MTV Video Music Awards this year). But what’s strange about this situation in particular is that in the wake of the grumbling, the CMA erased a promotional social media post featuring Beyoncé and the Dixie Chicks’ performance — convincing some observers that even though the CMA said it was due to the footage being unapproved, the organization was bending to conservatives and racists upset with the singer’s appearance at the awards.

The gross, deplorable, racist reactions aside, there’s something fascinating here that extends beyond Beyoncé. It’s a fight about how politics has informed the way we consume and critique pieces of art, and how politics has come to define the identity of........

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