Did Chris Stapleton Really File an Official Objection to Beyoncé’s Grammy Win?

Just yesterday, I was scrolling through Facebook when I saw a side-by-side graphic with Chris Stapleton and Beyoncé's photos and the caption, "Chris Stapleton Has Filed an Official Objection to Beyoncé’s Grammy Win: “Even She Admits This Is Not a Country Album.”"

When I noticed the post, there were over 40,000 comments loaded with folks who took this "information" as fact. The photo also had over 627,000 reactions and 32,000 shares. It was originally created by a Facebook page named "Country Music Stories" and then shared by a page named "Country Music 4U" but something about it raised red flags for me.

I immediately thought "Wow, this sounds really far-fetched." I obviously don't personally know either one of these superstars, but how petty would that be? It definitely doesn't sound like something Chris Stapleton would do. He has always seemed focused on making good music no matter what accolades he or anyone else is awarded. Why would he do that?

How to Tell if a Social Media Post is Real

Then, I headed straight to The Google to do my own investigation. Whenever I see a post like that, I always look first to the source. Is this a well-known media outlet? Are other major news sources reporting this? I would imagine if it were true, they'd all be talking about it. In this case, I simply typed "Beyonce Chris Stapleton" into the search bar.

Snopes to the Rescue

The very first result was a link from Snopes.com, the number one website for debunking false claims. Anyone can report a rumor to their team and they search for proof to either support it or determine it is a lie.

In this case, the question is: "Did Chris Stapleton really file an 'official objection' to Beyoncé's Grammy win for best country album?" 

The Answer: NO

In the article, Snopes verifies that no credible media outlet has reported this happening. Also, there have been zero mentions of this alleged objection from anyone on Chris Stapleton's team or his social media pages. In fact, the only recorded interactions between the two have been positive.

Like after the 2016 CMA Awards when Beyonce performed with The Dixie Chicks, Chris Stapleton said in an interview, "She's everything you want her to be. A classy, classy lady, and I'm proud that she could take the time to come and show up." Our friends at Taste of Country reported on that and you can read it here:

I highly recommend clicking the Snopes link above and reading the rest of the details on how they proved this claim to be false. There are other ways to tell a post is untrue just from looking at the graphic design and whether AI was used in the creation of it. It just goes to show how sneaky some of these pages are when it comes to spreading misinformation. We should always seek to verify the truth of the media we consume.

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