Beyoncé fans are coming for Gavin Adcock, who fired up controversy during a recent concert when he took aim at the 35-time Grammy winner and her chart-topping album Cowboy Carter at a recent show.
“There’s only three people in front of me on the Apple Music country charts,” Adcock told the crowd. “And one of ’em is Beyoncé. You can tell her we’re coming for her f#####’ ass.”
He followed up with, “That s### ain’t country music, and it ain’t never been country music, and it ain’t never gonna be country music.”
After the uproar, Adcock tried to explain his stance on Instagram, saying he grew up listening to Beyoncé and even praised her Super Bowl performance. “When I was a little kid, my mama was blasting some Beyoncé in the car. I’ve heard a ton of Beyoncé songs, and I actually remember her Super Bowl Halftime Show being pretty kick-ass back in the day,” he wrote. “But I really don’t believe her album should be labeled as country music. It doesn’t sound country, it doesn’t feel country, and I just don’t think that people that have dedicated their whole lives to this genre and this lifestyle should have to compete or watch that album just stay at the top just because she’s Beyoncé.”
He ended his caption with a blunt summary: “It just isn’t country.”
Beyhive Drag Gavin Adcock Over Beyoncé Rant
The Georgia-born country artist’s remarks quickly ignited a wave of backlash online, with social media users accusing him of gatekeeping and some claiming his remarks were rooted in racism.
One Instagram user wrote, “If it wasn’t for mentioning Beyoncé none of us would even know you. That was a local bar you were at? She’s at ARENAS (sold out) singing COUNTRY.”
Another added, “It takes 5 minutes of research to find out who created country music. Just because you gentrify it, doesn’t make it yours nor the authority figure of who can create music under said genre.”
A third person pointed out the racial double standard in genre-crossing, saying, “Black folks didn’t say things like this about Sam Smith, Adele, Pink, Eminem, Paul Wall, Bubba Sparks, Post Malone and all the ones before them when they hit the R&B and rap charts. Why all the hate?”
Despite Adcock’s criticism, Cowboy Carter continues to dominate the country charts and streaming platforms.
Still, Beyoncé received no nominations at the 2024 Country Music Association Awards, reigniting debates about racial bias and exclusion in the genre.
However Cowboy Carter won best County Album and Album of the Year at the 2025 Grammy Awards
This isn’t the first time Beyoncé has faced resistance from the country music world. Her 2016 CMA performance of “Daddy Lessons” was met with similar pushback, and the song was later denied entry into Grammy country categories.
Addressing that history directly, Beyoncé said, “[Cowboy Carter] was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t.”
She added, “But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive.”
