Lambert, who will also be performing at the 2016 ACM Honors ceremony, often pays tribute to “the Hag” in concert, and helped honor him at the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors and the 2014 ACM Awards.
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So you can understand his dismay when he learned that the Academy of Country Music was naming an upcoming award after Merle Haggard, the outlaw country legend who passed away in April.
“I’m writing this because I want to go on record and say I find it utterly disgusting the way everybody on Music Row is coming up with any reason they can to hitch their wagon to his name while knowing full and damn well what he thought about them”, he wrote.
One of contemporary country music’s most intrepid artists will be celebrated for going against the grain at tomorrow night’s ACM Honors when Miranda Lambert receives the inaugural Merle Haggard Spirit Award.
Simpson updated his post to clarify that his issue isn’t with Lambert, and he didn’t know she would be the honoree. He noted that he wrote the post before Lambert was named the recipient, adding he believes she feels the same way he does about the award. The “Vice” singer is known for her edgy songs and unapologetic lyrics.
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The 10th Annual ACM Honors is a celebration which honors the off-camera category winners from the 51st Academy of Country Music Awards. Don’t expect Simpson to sit through the ceremony. “I’m not sure how you can blackball somebody you don’t acknowledge in the first place anyway”. P.S. F**k this town. “We couldn’t imagine anyone better suited to receive the first ever ACM Merle Haggard Spirit Award than Miranda”, said ACM Executive Vice President and Managing Director Tiffany Moon in a press release.
