Country singer Maren Morris said during her speech at the 2023 GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday that she “felt a little badass” when former Fox News host Tucker Carlson called her a “lunatic.”
During her acceptance speech for GLAAD’s “Excellence in Media Award,”, Morris claimed that she “heard countless times over the years that I’m one of the brave voices in country music.”
Watch Below:
“But that is not true. I’m not brave. Stubborn to the point of delusional, yes, but not brave,” she said. “Making the right decision shouldn’t take bravery or courage. It shouldn’t take heroic effort to want basic equal rights for everybody.”
“I’m a straight white woman, I’m fine,” Morris continued, flanked by a trio of drag queens. “But leaving your house knowing you can face violence just for being who you are, risking your life just by walking down the street, that is bravery. You.”
The singer went on to say, “And, okay, fine, maybe I felt a little badass taking Tucker Carlson’s calling me a lunatic for standing up to transphobia, turning it into a T-shirt, and raising $150,000 for LGBTQ+ charities, yeah.”
“That made me feel a little cool, but I don’t want to gloat, I would never insult the recently unemployed,” she added, referring to the recent news that Carlson and Fox News have parted ways.
Maren Morris, Alyssa Edwards, Cynthia Lee Fontaine and Diva Soria appear on stage during the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards at New York Hilton on May 13, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for GLAAD)
Last year, Carlson described Morris as a lunatic after she viciously attacked Brittany Aldean, country star Jason Aldean’s wife, over the latter’s condemnation of sex-change surgery and other procedures that sterilize children.
After that, Morris slapped the moniker “lunatic country music person” onto t-shirts and used the proceeds from their sales to go toward Trans Lifeline and GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program.
Morris also celebrated Carlson and Fox News parting ways by taking to her Instagram Stories to write “Happy Monday, MotherTucker” the day the news dropped. She also added a screenshot from last year’s episode in which Carlson referred to her as a “lunatic,” and included the song “Karma” by Taylor Swift.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.