Blake Shelton Snubbed By Country Music Because Of Gwen Stefani?
Blake Shelton has been a staple at the Country Music Association Awards for the past six years, successfully being nominated in multiple categories at the prestigious country music award show every year since 2010, but he was noticeably shut out of the 2016 nominees list,and fans are pointing the finger at Gwen Stefani.
Blake, who has been nominated in the Male Vocalist of the Year category for the past six years in a row, was shut out completely at the upcoming 50th Annual CMAs, failing to receive a single nomination despite dropping a handful of singles and his latest album If I’m Honest earlier this year.
Rolling Stone chimed in on Blake’s surprising CMAs snub, pointing out that Shelton’s latest album, as well as his duet with Gwen, “Go Ahead And Break My Heart,” were both released well within the CMAs eligibility period for a nomination.
“His post-divorce album If I’m Honest didn’t resonate with voters,” the site confirmed, “nor did Shelton’s status as a pop-culture figure on The Voice land him back in the Entertainer field.”
Blake has yet to officially comment on the CMAs snub, though fans took to social media to speculate that Shelton’s high-profile romance with Gwen Stefani, which hit the headlines just a few months after the singer announced his divorce from Miranda Lambert, could have played a part.
“I am really p*****d,” Blake fan @your_honeybee2 tweeted out after it was revealed on August 31 that Shelton didn’t receive a single nomination at the 2016 CMAs. “If this happened in any way, shape, or form because Gwen is Blake’s [girlfriend], then the CMA is completely out of whack.”
“Blake Shelton you and Gwen better than award greatness,” Twitter fan @kimr2410 added amid the surprising snub.
Notably, while Shelton was shut out of the 2016 CMAs nominations line-up, his ex-wife Miranda was awarded a nomination in the Female Vocalist of the Year category, an award she’s won for the past six years running.
Blake’s first CMAs shut out in six years comes just months after Shelton went public with his romance with Stefani and amid constant swirling rumors claiming that the couple are actually planning to marry before the year is over.
Blake’s CMAs snub also hit the headlines shortly after reports claimed that Shelton had asked Gwen to cut down on posting pictures of them together on social media for fears that it could “cheapen” their romance.
In Touch Weekly recently reported that Shelton made the request to Stefani because he felt that their private life was becoming too public, turning their dating life into a show.
“[Blake] asked Gwen to stop posting so many selfies of them,” a source alleged to the site, claiming that Blake felt that the very public social media displays of affection could “turn off fans” and may even “cheapen their very real romance.”
“He just wants to keep their special moments private,” the source continued, shortly before Shelton found himself on the outs with the CMAs. “Blake just doesn’t want to constantly share all these pictures of them kissing or hanging out backstage.”
The reports claiming that Shelton doesn’t want his and Gwen’s romance all over social media came shortly after Shelton admitted during a candid interview with Country Countdown USA that he actually would have preferred to keep his and Stefani’s dating life private.
“If I could have kept my personal life private, I would have,” Blake said of dating Stefani. “But what I found out, because it wasn’t someone from my hometown, it was Gwen Stefani that I was beginning to have this relationship with.”
“There was no hiding it. If I glance her way, it’s the cover of magazines,” Shelton continued of his and Stefani’s high-profile romance. “At the time, when you go through what I went through with my divorce, you never know when it’s the right time to step out and say I’ve started seeing someone.”
What do you think of fans pointing the finger at Gwen Stefani for Blake Shelton’s CMAs snub?
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
