At the 50th Annual Country Music Awards on Wednesday, Beyoncé joined the Dixie Chicks on stage for a rendition of "Daddy Lessons."
The following day, people noticed something strange: The CMA website, and all their social media platforms, contained absolutely no mention of the performance at all.
CMA erased all evidence of Beyonce performing at the awards last after her appearance sparked racist backlash from… https://t.co/SHPDxSUVUn
Even without a single mention of Beyoncé, the CMA Facebook page has been flooded with racist comments about the singer.
People have been sharing their anger over the glaring omission — as well as screenshots of an apparently deleted promotional tweet.
Y'all I think she's not performing. @CountryMusic deleted this tweet just minutes ago about her performance.… https://t.co/Rw22AQKgA2
The deletions were first mentioned just 15 minutes into the show, when one tweet (which can still be seen via Favstar) led a viewer to think the performance might have been cancelled.
The screenshot was shared far and wide, though some speculated the deletion might have been for a simpler reason: a typo in the form of a missing period in the beginning of the tweet.
But another screenshot — which shows the exact same tweet, except with the typo corrected — was also deleted.
Y'all. Did @CountryMusic delete this tweet about Beyoncé?!?! #CMAs #CMAawards50
A CMA spokesperson denied any mentions of Beyoncé’s performance were erased, saying only an "unapproved promo" was removed.
"In advance of the broadcast, CMA removed a five-second promotional clip from ABC.com and CMA’s Facebook page. The promo was unapproved and CMA removed it prior to the broadcast," the spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.
"Beyoncé’s performance with Dixie Chicks was a highlight of the evening and we are continuing to share the amazing full-length performance clip via our official social channels."
In an interview, the chief executive of the Country Music Association said Beyoncé's representatives had not approved the clip shared on social media.
“Beyoncé’s team hadn’t approved that, so we pulled it down,” Sarah Trahern told the New York Times about the deleted post. “Fans can get kind of passionate and read other things into it.”
As for the limited social media posts about her performance, Trahern told the Times Beyoncé provided her own photographer and that the singer only approved one official live video of the song on ABC's website.
Still, some claimed the CMA "used Beyonce for ratings."
Wow @CountryMusic used Beyoncé for ratings then deleted all their Beyoncé related tweets.
Hmm @CountryMusic deleted Beyoncé off of their instagram page 🤔🤔 wonder why?
So #CMA used Beyonce's performance as promo and right after deleted all evidence of it? Sounds about white.
I'm actually disgusted that the CMA deleted all traces of Bey's appearance last night. They gave the racist trolls exactly what they wanted.
Following the backlash (and 12 minutes after a phone call with BuzzFeed News), the CMAs re-grammed one of Beyonce's Instagram posts from the show.
