Maren Morris Skips 2022 CMAs Red Carpet Following Brittany Aldean Feud

Maren Morris skipped the red carpet walk at the Academy of Country Music Awards (CMA Awards) on Wednesday amid her feud with former American Idol contestant Brittany Aldean.

Instead, the singer, who was nominated for album of the year, turned up halfway through the show carrying a bottle of Dom Pérignon champagne.

"BYOB, CMA. ?," Morris wrote on a social media video of her walking backstage at the awards show.

Morris was nominated for her Humble Quest album but lost out to fellow country musician Luke Combs.

She and husband Ryan Hurd left the CMA Awards after the album of the year was announced.

Morris has previously said she does not "feel comfortable" attending big award shows.

"Honestly, I haven't decided if I'm gonna go," told the Los Angeles Times in September.

"I'm very honored that my record is nominated. But I don't know if I feel [at] home there right now. So many people I love will be in that room, and maybe I'll make a game-time decision and go. But as of right now, I don't feel comfortable going."

Morris added: "I think I was [sadder] going last year. Some nights are fun. Others I'm just crawling out of my skin. I'm not good at those events because I'm awkward. But this time I kind of feel peaceful at the notion of not going."

But one person who did walk the red carpet at the CMA Awards was Brittany Aldean, wife of singer Jason Aldean.

Morris and Brittany Aldean recently got into a scrap on social media after comments by the latter were labeled transphobic.

Brittany Aldean posted a makeup reveal video on Instagram in August with the caption: "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."

While Morris didn't specifically name Brittany Aldean, she tweeted seemingly in response to her comments.

"It's so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human? Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie," Morris wrote on Twitter.

She later confirmed that she had been speaking about Brittany Aldean in the tweet and there were "worse things" she could have said about her.

"Well, it's kind of true, because the whole conspiracy theory peddling of January 6, they totally partook in that," Morris said in the same LA Times interview.

She was referring to the attack on the U.S. Capitol in early 2021 after former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

"Look, I'm not a victim in this and neither is she. But I don't have feelings of kindness when it comes to humans being made fun of for questioning their identity, especially kids," Morris said.

"The whole 'When they go low, we go high' thing doesn't work with these people. Any resistance movement is not done with kind words. And there's a lot worse things I could've called her."

Morris added: "I hate feeling like I need to be the hall monitor of treating people like human beings in country music. It's exhausting.

"But there's a very insidious culture of people feeling very comfortable being transphobic and homophobic and racist, and that they can wrap it in a joke and no one will ever call them out for it. It just becomes normal for people to behave like that."

Brittany Aldean stood by her comments in a September interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

"I think that children should not be allowed to make these life-changing decisions at such a young age," she said.

Carlson then called Morris a "lunatic" and suggested Morris "leaves country music immediately."

Not one to shy away from a fight, Morris slapped the phrase "Lunatic Country Music Person" onto a T-shirt and began selling them in order to raise money for Trans Lifeline and GLAAD's Transgender Media Program.

Morris managed to raise $150,000 for the programs and thanked Carlson for the inspiration.

"Thank you, Tucker," she told the LA Times.

"Was it funny? Sure. But if we can twist it into a charitable cause, let's do it. Then it just exploded."