Garth Brooks has been one of country music’s biggest stars for decades.
Brooks is the best-selling solo artist in the United States with a whopping 148 million domestic units sold.
But he did one thing during the CMA Awards that rubbed a lot of his fans the wrong way.
As of 2016, Garth Brooks in the only artist ever to have seven albums achieve diamond status in the U.S.
Brooks’ tours have always been legendary as well, making him one of America’s biggest entertainers ever.
But one thing you should never do is lip sync.
Remember what happened to Milli Vanilli?
The German group was stripped of their Grammy Award for Best New Artist when it was discovered that they didn’t actually sing any of their tracks and had been touring the world lip syncing the entire time.
Of course, there is a huge difference between doing it anecdotally, but it’s exactly what Garth Brooks did at the CMA Awards, and it left his fans feeling betrayed.
But Brooks’ reasoning for deciding to lip sync is a little perplexing, considering he’s a world-class performer.
Fox News reports:
“Garth Brooks admitted to lip-syncing during his performance at the 51st Country Music Awards on Wednesday night.
The singer, who took home the biggest award of the night for Entertainer of the Year, told Fox News his decision to lip-sync was due to his heavy touring schedule.
“Right now we’re in the middle of 12 shows in 10 days,” Brooks told us. “We’ve got four days [where] we’re doing two shows a day.”
The 55-year-old explained it was a last minute decision.
“We decided to lip-sync it because my voice just isn’t going anywhere, and we wanted to represent country music the best we can,” he told reporters backstage.
Ahead of the show, Brooks said he was “nervous” for the big award announcement of the night. He said he was anxious to hear who would win Entertainer of the Year “because they said my name last year.”
“Truth is we’re all human, you want to hear your name being called,” Garth told Fox News on the red carpet.
Nominees for the show’s top prize included Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Keith Urban, Eric Church and Brooks.
During his acceptance speech, Brooks praised the way country stars were coming together in the wake of recent tragedies, such as the shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival that claimed the lives of 58 fans.”
Regardless of his explanation, his fans were upset and took to Twitter to vent their disappointment.
@garthbrooks disappointed! We want honesty not perfection. Shouldnt have lip synced garth.
— Dana C (@Dclayton2C) November 9, 2017
When your whole life is ruined because you saw @garthbrooks on the #CMAAwards lip sync 😫
— Catherine Cortez (@KittyKittyCathy) November 9, 2017
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR goes to… @garthbrooks #CMAawards pic.twitter.com/MIoEAOLCpY
— CMT (@CMT) November 9, 2017
Hopefully, this is the first and last time Brooks ever lip syncs.