7 Country Stars Who Skipped the 2026 ACM Awards [Photos]

Not every star came out for the 2026 ACM Awards.

As the lights went down and the trophies started being doled out on Sunday night (May 17), there were still some favorite faces notably absent from the ceremony.

RelatedPosts

Kid Rock’s Young Drummer Kalvin Lynch Dies at 17

October 31, 2026

10 Hit Songs You May Not Know Were Written by Chris Stapleton

October 30, 2026

George Strait and Reba McEntire Share Rare Country Music Honor

October 29, 2026

Which Country Stars Skipped the 2026 ACM Awards?

Country fans won’t be surprised to learn that Morgan Wallen skipped the ceremony.

Wallen’s made a habit of missing awards show appearances for a few years now, even though he’s one of the genre’s biggest stars.
Wallen was up for two big ACM categories this year — Album of the Year and Entertainer of the Year — so he could’ve won a trophy in absentia.

However, Parker McCollum won Album and Cody Johnson won Entertainer of the Year in 2026.

Wallen was also nominated for Artist-Songwriter of the Year, but Ella Langley claimed that trophy in an early win before the ceremony.

Jason Aldean was another not-so-surprising absentee.

Like Wallen, he’s got a history of  skipping awards shows when he doesn’t have a major reason to be there. He also didn’t have any nominations at this year’s ACMs.

Where Was Megan Moroney at the 2026 ACM Awards?!

Megan Moroneys absence was a bigger shocker.

The most-nominated artist of the night, she secured her first Entertainer of the Year nod in 2026 — so we thought for sure she’d be there!

But the singer issued a statement the day of the show saying she was skipping it in order to be the maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding.

She did appear at the ACMs in a pre-recorded video promoting the ACM’s partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

A Lot of Entertainer of the Year Nominees Skipped the 2026 ACM Awards

As the show went on, it seemed like a pretty likely possibility that the biggest honor of the night — Entertainer of the Year — would have to be handed out in absentia.

In addition to Moroney, other Entertainer nominees Jelly Roll and Luke Combs skipped the ceremony. Neither of them offered official explanations for their absence.

Fortunately for the crowd anticipating a big moment when the Entertainer winner was announced, the award went to Cody Johnson — who was present, and gave a powerful speech to mark his first-ever Entertainer of the Year win.

This list of country stars who didn’t attend the ACMs isn’t complete, but it is a roundup of the most surprising or most glaring absences from the ceremony.

Those include ACMs frequent fliers and artists who were nominated at tonight’s show.