Jeff Bridges ended the 2024 Country Music ᴀssociation Awards on an embarrᴀssing note when he mispronounced the name of the winner of the ceremony’s top honor.

Bridges, 74, was on hand to present Entertainer of the Year, which not only covers country artists’ recordings but also their live performances and contribution to country music as a whole.

The category was stacked this year, with Luke Combs, rapper-turned-country singer Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson all competing for the biggest award of the evening.

But Bridges left fans cringing after he messed up the last name of the winner — Morgan Wallen, who didn’t even attend the ceremony — during an otherwise upbeat presentation.

‘Ahh, man! I should come here more often, man!’ Bridges said, briefly sounding like his iconic Big Lebowski character, after he was introduced on stage to rapturous applause. ‘Pretty wild!’

‘It’s the biggest award of the night, so let’s not screw around, OK?’ Bridges added ironically.

Jeff Bridges ended the 2024 Country Music ᴀssociation Awards on an embarrᴀssing note when he mispronounced the name of the winner of the ceremony’s top honor

Bridges, 74, was on hand to present Entertainer of the Year , which not only covers country artists’ recordings but also their live performances and contribution to country music as a whole

The category was stacked this year, with Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson all competing for the biggest award of the evening — and Morgan came out on top; pictured in November 2023 at the 2023 CMA Awards

After running through the nominees, Bridges announced Morgan Wallen as the the winner — except that it wasn’t quite ‘Wallen’ he said.

Instead, the Fearless star pronounced the singer’s last name as something closer to ‘Waylon.’ 

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He had time to luxuriate in the screw-up when he noted that Wallen wasn’t on hand to accept his award, so he initially said he would accept it on his behalf.

But then Lainey Wilson stepped in to accept for the absent singer, who briefly faced consequences after he was recorded shouting the N-word in 2021.

‘Oh my gosh, congratulations, Morgan. Wow. I’m so excited for you!’ she said as she grasped his award.

She was blanked on stage by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, who seemed to play a joke on her by presenting her with a T-shirt reading ‘Luke, Pey + Lay’ for their first names.

‘Lainey, this was all Luke’s idea, I got dragged into this,’ said a sheeping Peyton as Luke draped another shirt over Lainey’s chest. 

But on social media, fans couldn’t stop talking about Jeff’s awkward pronunciation of Morgan’s name. 

Except that it wasn’t quite ‘Wallen’ that Bridges said. Instead, he pronounced the artist’s last name closer to ‘Waylon’

Bridges then awkwardly tried to accept on Wallen’s behalf, as he didn’t attend, but Lainey Wilson quickly interrupted to accept for him while Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning flanked her

‘I love that Jeff Bridges just mispronounced Morgan Wallen’s name,’ wrote one person on X (formerly Twitter), while adding the hashtag ‘#CountryMyA**).

One user theorized that Bridges was ‘a little tipsy’ during the presentation. 

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‘Yikes!’ wrote another fan who thought Bridges ‘was the only person in that arena that didn’t know who Morgan Wallen was.’ 

But others thought that his mixup was ‘objectively hilarious.’

One user even took Bridges’ unfamiliarity with Wallen as evidence that ‘it’s a stretch to use the term “star” in reference to anyone in country music.’

Others seethed that Bridges had ‘no business’ being at the CMAs if he didn’t know how to pronounce Wallen’s name.

Some fans laid the blame at the CMAs for not making sure presenters knew how to pronounce the nominees’ names, though some award shows print the names phonetically in the winner envelopes.

One easygoing fan loved that ‘no matter what he’s doing Jeff Bridges sounds like the dude [from The Big Lebowski].’

Fan on X (formerly Twitter) weighed in on the mispronunciation. Some found it ‘hilarious’ that Bridges had screwed up the top award of the night

 But others were furious, with one person saying Bridges had ‘no business presenting an award’ if he didn’t know how to pronounce the winner’s name

 One fan said Bridges was the final nail in the coffin. ‘What an underwhelming ending to a very meh show at best’

Another person thought the now-grizzled actor looked like the late Kris Kristofferson when he was up on the stage, and they added that the mispronunciation was ‘hysterical.’ 

One X user even liked the sound of ‘Morgan Waylon’ so much that they refused to ‘hear anything else to the contrary’ going forward.

But one user summed up the evening and cited Jeff Bridges as the final nail in the coffin.

‘Holy Hell. Morgan Wallen, who isn’t in Nashville, wins Entertainer of the Year. Jeff Bridges mispronounces his last name. More awkwardness from the hosts. What an underwhelming ending to a very meh show at best.’

2024 CMA Award Winners

Entertainer of the Year

Luke Combs

Jelly Roll

Chris Stapleton

Morgan Wallen (WINNER)

Lainey Wilson

 

Album of the Year

Deeper Well – Kacey Musgraves; Producers: Ian Fitchuk, Kacey Musgraves, Daniel Tashian; Mix engineers: Shawn Everett, Konrad Snyder

Fathers & Sons – Luke Combs; Producers: Luke Combs, Chase Matthews, Jonathan Singleton; Mix engineer: Chip Matthews

Higher – Chris Stapleton; Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton; Mix engineer: Vance Powell

Leather – Cody Johnson; Producer: Trent Willmon; Mix engineer: Jack Clarke (WINNER)

Whitsitt Chapel – Jelly Roll; Producers: Andrew Baylis, Brock Berryhill, Zach Crowell, Jesse Frasure, David Garcia, Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft, Austin Nivarel, David Ray Stevens; Mix engineers: Jeff Braun, Jim Cooley

 

Female Vocalist of the Year

Kelsea Ballerini

Ashley McBryde

Megan Moroney 

Kacey Musgraves 

Lainey Wilson (WINNER) 

 

Male Vocalist of the Year 

Luke Combs 

Jelly Roll 

Cody Johnson 

Chris Stapleton (WINNER)

Morgan Wallen 

 

Vocal Group of the Year 

Lady A 

Little Big Town 

Old Dominion (WINNER)

The Red Clay Strays 

Zac Brown Band 

 

Vocal Duo of the Year

Brooks & Dunn (WINNER)

Brothers Osborne 

Dan + Shay 

Maddie & Tae 

The War And Treaty 

 

New Artist of the Year 

Megan Moroney (WINNER)

Shaboozey 

Nate Smith 

Mitchell Tenpenny 

Zach Top 

Bailey Zimmerman 

 

Single of the Year 

A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey; Producers: Sean Cook, Nevin Sastry; Mix engineer: Raul Lopez

Dirt Cheap – Cody Johnson; Producer: Trent Willmon; Mix engineer: Jack Clarke

I Had Some Help – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen); Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins; Mix engineer: Ryan Gore

Watermelon Moonshine – Lainey Wilson; Producer: Jay Joyce; Mix engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce

White Horse – Chris Stapleton; Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton; Mix engineer: Vance Powell (WINNER)

 

Song of the Year

Burn It Down – Hillary Lindsey, Parker McCollum, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose

Dirt Cheap – Josh Phillips

I Had Some Help – Louis Bell, Ashley Gorley, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins, Austin Post, Ernest Keith Smith, Morgan Wallen, Chandler Paul Walters

The Painter –  Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins, Ryan Larkins

White Horse – Chris Stapleton, Dan Wilson (WINNER)

 

Musical Event of the Year 

Cowboys Cry Too – Kelsea Ballerini (with Noah Kahan); Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Alysa Vanderheym

I Had Some Help –  Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen); Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins

I Remember Everything – Zach Bryan (ft. Kacey Musgraves); Producer: Zach Bryan

Man Made A Bar – Zach Bryan (ft. Kacey Musgraves); Producer: Joey Moi

you look like you love me –  Ella Langley (feat. Riley Green); Producer: Will Bundy (WINNER)

 

Music Video of the Year 

Dirt Cheap –  Cody Johnson, directed by Dustin Haney

I Had Some Help – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen), directed by Chris Villa

I’m Not Pretty –  Megan Moroney, directed by Jeff Johnson and Megan Moroney

The Painter – Cody Johnson, directed by Dustin Haney

Wildflowers and Wild Horses – Lainey Wilson, directed by Patrick Tracy (WINNER)

  

Musician of the Year 

Tom Bukovac

Jenee Fleenor 

Paul Franklin 

Rob McNelley 

Charlie Worsham (WINNER)