Jeff Bridges ended the 2024 Country Music Association Awards on an embarrassing note when he mispronounced the name of the winner of the ceremony’s top honor.
Bridges, 74, was on hand to present Entertainer of the Year, which not only covers country artists’ recordings but also their live performances and contribution to country music as a whole.
The category was stacked this year, with Luke Combs, rapper-turned-country singer Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson all competing for the biggest award of the evening.
But Bridges left fans cringing after he messed up the last name of the winner — Morgan Wallen, who didn’t even attend the ceremony — during an otherwise upbeat presentation.
‘Ahh, man! I should come here more often, man!’ Bridges said, briefly sounding like his iconic Big Lebowski character, after he was introduced on stage to rapturous applause. ‘Pretty wild!’
‘It’s the biggest award of the night, so let’s not screw around, OK?’ Bridges added ironically.
Jeff Bridges ended the 2024 Country Music Association Awards on an embarrassing note when he mispronounced the name of the winner of the ceremony’s top honor
Bridges, 74, was on hand to present Entertainer of the Year , which not only covers country artists’ recordings but also their live performances and contribution to country music as a whole
The category was stacked this year, with Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson all competing for the biggest award of the evening — and Morgan came out on top; pictured in November 2023 at the 2023 CMA Awards
After running through the nominees, Bridges announced Morgan Wallen as the the winner — except that it wasn’t quite ‘Wallen’ he said.
Instead, the Fearless star pronounced the singer’s last name as something closer to ‘Waylon.’
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He had time to luxuriate in the screw-up when he noted that Wallen wasn’t on hand to accept his award, so he initially said he would accept it on his behalf.
But then Lainey Wilson stepped in to accept for the absent singer, who briefly faced consequences after he was recorded shouting the N-word in 2021.
‘Oh my gosh, congratulations, Morgan. Wow. I’m so excited for you!’ she said as she grasped his award.
She was blanked on stage by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, who seemed to play a joke on her by presenting her with a T-shirt reading ‘Luke, Pey + Lay’ for their first names.
‘Lainey, this was all Luke’s idea, I got dragged into this,’ said a sheeping Peyton as Luke draped another shirt over Lainey’s chest.
But on social media, fans couldn’t stop talking about Jeff’s awkward pronunciation of Morgan’s name.
Except that it wasn’t quite ‘Wallen’ that Bridges said. Instead, he pronounced the artist’s last name closer to ‘Waylon’
Bridges then awkwardly tried to accept on Wallen’s behalf, as he didn’t attend, but Lainey Wilson quickly interrupted to accept for him while Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning flanked her
‘I love that Jeff Bridges just mispronounced Morgan Wallen’s name,’ wrote one person on X (formerly Twitter), while adding the hashtag ‘#CountryMyA**).
One user theorized that Bridges was ‘a little tipsy’ during the presentation.
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‘Yikes!’ wrote another fan who thought Bridges ‘was the only person in that arena that didn’t know who Morgan Wallen was.’
But others thought that his mixup was ‘objectively hilarious.’
One user even took Bridges’ unfamiliarity with Wallen as evidence that ‘it’s a stretch to use the term “star” in reference to anyone in country music.’
Others seethed that Bridges had ‘no business’ being at the CMAs if he didn’t know how to pronounce Wallen’s name.
Some fans laid the blame at the CMAs for not making sure presenters knew how to pronounce the nominees’ names, though some award shows print the names phonetically in the winner envelopes.
One easygoing fan loved that ‘no matter what he’s doing Jeff Bridges sounds like the dude [from The Big Lebowski].’
Fan on X (formerly Twitter) weighed in on the mispronunciation. Some found it ‘hilarious’ that Bridges had screwed up the top award of the night
But others were furious, with one person saying Bridges had ‘no business presenting an award’ if he didn’t know how to pronounce the winner’s name
One fan said Bridges was the final nail in the coffin. ‘What an underwhelming ending to a very meh show at best’
Another person thought the now-grizzled actor looked like the late Kris Kristofferson when he was up on the stage, and they added that the mispronunciation was ‘hysterical.’
One X user even liked the sound of ‘Morgan Waylon’ so much that they refused to ‘hear anything else to the contrary’ going forward.
But one user summed up the evening and cited Jeff Bridges as the final nail in the coffin.
‘Holy Hell. Morgan Wallen, who isn’t in Nashville, wins Entertainer of the Year. Jeff Bridges mispronounces his last name. More awkwardness from the hosts. What an underwhelming ending to a very meh show at best.’
2024 CMA Award Nominations
Entertainer of the Year
Luke Combs
Jelly Roll
Chris Stapleton
Morgan Wallen (WINNER)
Lainey Wilson
Album of the Year
Deeper Well – Kacey Musgraves; Producers: Ian Fitchuk, Kacey Musgraves, Daniel Tashian; Mix engineers: Shawn Everett, Konrad Snyder
Fathers & Sons – Luke Combs; Producers: Luke Combs, Chase Matthews, Jonathan Singleton; Mix engineer: Chip Matthews
Higher – Chris Stapleton; Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton; Mix engineer: Vance Powell
Leather – Cody Johnson; Producer: Trent Willmon; Mix engineer: Jack Clarke (WINNER)
Whitsitt Chapel – Jelly Roll; Producers: Andrew Baylis, Brock Berryhill, Zach Crowell, Jesse Frasure, David Garcia, Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft, Austin Nivarel, David Ray Stevens; Mix engineers: Jeff Braun, Jim Cooley
Morgan Wallen is the most-nominated artist this year with seven nods
Female Vocalist of the Year
Kelsea Ballerini
Ashley McBryde
Megan Moroney
Kacey Musgraves
Lainey Wilson (WINNER)
Male Vocalist of the Year
Luke Combs
Jelly Roll
Cody Johnson
Chris Stapleton (WINNER)
Morgan Wallen
Vocal Group of the Year
Lady A
Little Big Town
Old Dominion (WINNER)
The Red Clay Strays
Zac Brown Band
Vocal Duo of the Year
Brooks & Dunn (WINNER)
Brothers Osborne
Dan + Shay
Maddie & Tae
The War And Treaty
New Artist of the Year
Megan Moroney (WINNER)
Shaboozey
Nate Smith
Mitchell Tenpenny
Zach Top
Bailey Zimmerman
Single of the Year
A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey; Producers: Sean Cook, Nevin Sastry; Mix engineer: Raul Lopez
Dirt Cheap – Cody Johnson; Producer: Trent Willmon; Mix engineer: Jack Clarke
I Had Some Help – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen); Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins; Mix engineer: Ryan Gore
Watermelon Moonshine – Lainey Wilson; Producer: Jay Joyce; Mix engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
White Horse – Chris Stapleton; Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton; Mix engineer: Vance Powell (WINNER)
Song of the Year
Burn It Down – Hillary Lindsey, Parker McCollum, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose
Dirt Cheap – Josh Phillips
I Had Some Help – Louis Bell, Ashley Gorley, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins, Austin Post, Ernest Keith Smith, Morgan Wallen, Chandler Paul Walters
The Painter – Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins, Ryan Larkins
White Horse – Chris Stapleton, Dan Wilson (WINNER)
Musical Event of the Year
Cowboys Cry Too – Kelsea Ballerini (with Noah Kahan); Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Alysa Vanderheym
I Had Some Help – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen); Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins
I Remember Everything – Zach Bryan (ft. Kacey Musgraves); Producer: Zach Bryan
Man Made A Bar – Zach Bryan (ft. Kacey Musgraves); Producer: Joey Moi
you look like you love me – Ella Langley (feat. Riley Green); Producer: Will Bundy (WINNER)
Music Video of the Year
Dirt Cheap – Cody Johnson, directed by Dustin Haney
I Had Some Help – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen), directed by Chris Villa
I’m Not Pretty – Megan Moroney, directed by Jeff Johnson and Megan Moroney
The Painter – Cody Johnson, directed by Dustin Haney
Wildflowers and Wild Horses – Lainey Wilson, directed by Patrick Tracy (WINNER)
Musician of the Year
Tom Bukovac
Jenee Fleenor
Paul Franklin
Rob McNelley
Charlie Worsham (WINNER)