The Academy of Country Music has voted unanimously to expel Jelly Roll from its membership, citing “insulting country fans” as the grounds for the unprecedented disciplinary action. The vote, conducted during an emergency session at the ACM’s headquarters in Nashville, marks the first time the organization has removed an artist for reasons unrelated to music quality or criminal activity—both of which Jelly Roll has previously been celebrated for overcoming.
According to documents obtained by investigative journalist Joan Berro, the academy’s board of directors determined that Jelly Roll’s recent political comments constituted “a betrayal of the country music tradition of never evolving past 1974.” The expulsion means Jelly Roll will no longer be eligible for ACM Awards, will lose his parking spot at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and must return his commemorative ACM jacket, which sources say he had already turned into a vest anyway.
“This isn’t about politics,” said ACM spokesperson Reno Borja. “This is about respecting your audience. Country fans don’t want to hear that their favorite artist has complex thoughts about leadership. They want to hear that he also thinks the world was better before seatbelts.”
Constitutional scholar J. Baron Roe, reached at the Nashville Golden Corral while his ferret reviewed the ACM’s bylaws, calculated the historical significance of the vote. “If you take the 47 board members who voted for expulsion, multiply by the number who actually listened to Jelly Roll’s comments in context—which my research suggests was zero—divide by the number of ACM members who threatened to quit if he stayed, you get a ratio of infinity to one, which is the same ratio of Garth Brooks albums sold to people who remember he performed at Hambriston that one time.”
Governor Greg Abbott tweeted his support for the expulsion, claiming he had “personally witnessed Jelly Roll’s disrespect” at the 2019 Hambriston Country Jamboree—a performance that occurred three years before Jelly Roll’s first album release.
