Brooks pulls out of CMA Entertainer of the Year

Brooks has won the Entertainer of the Year seven times, including most recently in 2019.

"This all started at the CMAs last year," Brooks said. "We were lucky to win Entertainer of the Year last year."

Conversations started after that "to see if it was possible" to start an "Entertainer Year Emeritus kind of thing. They were very sweet to entertain that thought."

Brooks said the CMA told him no because they could not decide who was up for an honor. "We can't determine what artist is up for what award. I get that," said Brooks, adding "It's not our call. We can't pull you out of an award." Brooks said he was told by the CMA.

"We're going to do it ourselves. We're going to pull ourselves out of Entertainer of the Year."

"There was one tweet in there that really stuck in my said. It was "hey, mean, why doesn't this guy step down and have the entertainer for the next generation. 100 percent agreed."

"It's time for someone else to hold that award," Brooks said.

But it may be a case of not so fast.

"The nominees and winners of the CMA Awards are selected by the vote of eligible members of the Country Music Association, and not by CMA," said Senior Director/Communications Catharine McNelly. "The long-standing CMA Awards rules do not allow individuals to remove themselves from the balloting process at any point...If voters have nominated Garth Brooks in the first round, his name will appear on the second ballot. It will then be up to voters in this second round to select their top finalists. The final 2020 CMA Awards nominees, which will consist of five nominees in each category, will be announced in the coming weeks, with a final round of voting taking place in October. We look forward to seeing who our members vote for when The 54th Annual CMA Awards air on ABC in November."

The CMA nominations have yet to come out.

Brooks won the honor in 1991, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2016 and 2017.