Kelsea Ballerini’s 2023 CMT Awards Performance Celebrates Inclusivity

Kelsea Ballerini’s performance in the 2023 Country Music Television Awards made a public stand against the anti-trans and anti-drag narratives that have recently enveloped the nation. On Sunday, April 2, the 29-year-old country star sang “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too),” alongside former “RuPaul's Drag Race” contestants Kennedy Davenport, Manila Luzon, Jan Sport and Olivia Lux. 

Ballerini’s public display of solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community comes a month after Tennessee legislators passed Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 9, which work to criminalize drag performances, banning them from occurring in public or within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and places of worship. The Tennesse bills reflect a broader trend of growing anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiments, much of which are perpetrated by the GOP and conservative Christian community leaders. 

Kelsea’s performance is important as it reinforces the idea that drag is not a threat, nor should it be concealed from children. During her performance, the stage resembled vintage 1950s suburbia, complete with a white picket fence. This theme illustrates the traditional, hetero-normative values that right-wing politicians claim to be protecting. 

Ballerini wasn’t the only female country star to make a stand at this year’s CMT Awards ceremony. During her acceptance speech for the Equal Pay Award, Shania Twain made a public appeal for inclusivity and tolerance. Twain emphasized country music’s rich history and reflected on her career, saying, “When I wrote the phrase ‘Man, I feel like a woman,’ I honestly had no idea at the time it would become an undercurrent of a decades-long career. It's amazing how one statement can empower so many."

Ballerini and Twain’s outspoken support for the LGBTQIA+ community reflects the culture wars that have gripped the nation in recent years, beginning with the dissolution of Roe v. Wade and the implementation of the Stop W.O.K.E. Act in Florida. 

Ballerini also made a public statement about gun control in the wake of the Tennessee school shooting that occurred this past March, which resulted in the death of three students and three teachers. In her statement, Ballerini dedicated this year’s CMT broadcast to the “ever-growing list of family's friends, survivors, witnesses and responders whose lives continue to forever be changed by gun violence.”  

The candid expression of political opinion at this year’s CMT awards indicates the important role of the entertainment industry in offsetting the close-minded, intolerant ideologies that threaten to upend years of social and cultural progress.