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Kelsea Ballerini Brings Out Drag Race Stars in CMT Award Performance
The country star made a big statement by inviting RuPaul’s Drag Race queens to join her performance.
Not only did Kelsea Ballerini cohost the 2023 CMT Music Awards alongside Kane Brown, but she also delivered a powerful performance featuring fan-favorites from the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise.
In the past few years, conservatives have been pushing anti-drag and anti-trans bills in several states to launch their political campaigns and reinforce homophobic and transphobic agendas. Unfortunately, certain country music stars have aligned themselves with those viewpoints, but there are also artists who are pushing back in an effort to promote acceptance, inclusion, and love.
During her performance at the 2023 CMT Music Awards, Ballerini sang “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too)” and brought out Drag Race queens Manila Luzon, Kennedy Davenport, Jan, and Olivia Lux to join her on the stage. Overall, this was a beautiful display of a country music star firmly standing with the LGBTQ+ community and showing that there shouldn’t be any room for queerphobic bigotry in 2023.
Watch Kelsea Ballerini’s performance at the 2023 CMT Music Awards below.
Bernardo Sim is the deputy editor of Out. He's also a staff contributor to The Advocate, PRIDE, and other equalpride publications. Born in Brazil, he currently lives in South Florida.
You can follow Bernardo Sim on Instagram. Otherwise, you can find him on Bluesky, Threads, X/Twitter, and TikTok.
Bernardo Sim is the deputy editor of Out. He's also a staff contributor to The Advocate, PRIDE, and other equalpride publications. Born in Brazil, he currently lives in South Florida.
You can follow Bernardo Sim on Instagram. Otherwise, you can find him on Bluesky, Threads, X/Twitter, and TikTok.
