(Photo : REUTERS/Harrison McClary) George Strait wins awards and ladies' social media attention. The ACM Entertainer of the Year is the big daddy of wins and many thought that the reigning entertainer, Luke Bryan, would walk away with it again this year. To be on the safe side, in order to win the fan vote, Team Luke put out an expensive series of vote-getting videos in the days leading up to the awards. Luke was featured crashing different parties (in honor of his latest album, Crash My Party). No party was off limits and fans found Bryan crashing a baby shower, a little boy's birthday party, a girl’s TV night and even a wedding reception! On a serious note, one last video was produced. The nearly 3 minute vid shows his dressing room erupting into applause when his name was announced at the 2013 ACM Awards, his family tearfully talking about how proud his brother and sister would be of him and the man himself, sharing how winning a fan voted award validates what he does every night.
The big night came and LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell announced that the winner was ... George Strait.
Luke's smile didn't break (at least while on camera) and thus far, he has made no public statements about the loss. However, some are blaming him for a snarky tweet posted by his merchandising manager, Hunter Jobes. The tweet said, "It’s called Entertainer of the year not how's your career .... Unreal Acm's! Not an entertainer." (Both the tweet and Jobes' Twitter have since been deleted.)
Some country music fans agreed while others jumped on Luke like he was the one who said it. Comments from around the web have been less than complimentary towards both artists (depending on which one the poster likes better). In the end, the name calling and derogatory remarks from fans don't do any good or change a single thing. They just make all of use who love country music look like sore losers and/or jerk winners.
