Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) called Beyoncé a “DEI” recipient of a Grammy award last week for Best Country Album, complaining she was not a real country singer and that her accolade would cause the country to “suffer.”
The singer made history last Sunday when she scooped up the award for her album Cowboy Carter. The Grammys noted Beyoncé became “the first Black woman in GRAMMYs history to take home the award for Best Country Album.”
Videojournalist Nicholas Ballasy caught up with Owens at the Capitol Friday and asked him what he thought of the singer winning the award.
“I think that’s the closest thing to see to DEI right now,” the Utah Republican said. He added:
I mean, I’m not a country fan, but I can tell from the response from country fans they do not appreciate that at all. You put all that hard work. Develop your fan base. You go out and you work to develop a reputation and all of a sudden somebody comes out of the blue because she’s popular in something else and she is the best. Nobody respects that, and unfortunately, because of that, Beyoncé will not be respected by that core group of people that she’s now singing to.
Ballasy asked Owens if he thought Beyoncé had “diminished” the award for future winners. The congressman doubled down and categorized Beyoncé as having unfairly received her award.
“I think it diminishes her,” he said. “I think it diminishes the awards. And I think you have a lot less people watching as time goes on. Fairness is what our country is all about.”
Owens concluded President Donald Trump won the 2024 election to restore “fairness.”
“That’s why we’re so excited about what President Trump did with protecting women from men,” he said in an apparent reference to transgender women competing in women’s sports. “We do not like unfairness. We see that, we turn away.”
Owns concluded the country would “suffer” because the Best Country Album award went to a non-country artist.
Watch above via the Nicholas Ballasy YouTube page.
