DINH DOONG

Country legend Dolly Parton has given her view on why Beyonce did not get shortlisted for any CMA Awards.

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Dolly Parton has defended the Country Music Association Awards after it snubbed Beyoncé.

Speaking about why she was overlooked in several of the award’s categories for her country album Cowboy Carter, the country legend, 78, said she reckons they didn’t want to choose her over those who have dedicated their careers to the genre.

Dolly told Variety: “There’s so many wonderful country artists that, I guess probably the country music field, they probably thought, well, we can’t really leave out some of the ones that spend their whole life doing that.”

The Jolene singer claimed she did not even know about snub until the publication quizzed her about it, saying: “But I didn’t even realize that until somebody asked me that question.”

Parton said she thought that Cowboy Carter was “a wonderful album”, and Beyonce. 43, “can be very, very proud of” her work.

The 9 to 5 singer said depsite the snub “everybody in country music welcomed her and thought that, that was good”, and that she didn’t think she was intentionally overlooked for her country album, which included version of her own track Jolene.

Parton said: “I don’t think it was a matter of shutting out, like doing that on purpose.

“I think it was just more of what the country charts and the country artists were doing, that do that all the time, not just a specialty album.’

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be on both those albums. Well, Jolene was in Beyoncé’s, and I thought that was a great album.”

Beyoncé was born in Texas and her mother is from Louisiana and The Islands in the Stream singer said her background proved she has roots in the genre, saying: “She’s a country girl in Texas and Louisiana, so she grew up with that base. It wasn’t like she just appeared out of nowhere.”

Parton also said she was “open to anything” in terms of a potential collaboration with Beyoncé.

Beyoncé’s dad Matthew Knowles has claimed his daughter’s race was the reason why she was snubbed

He told TMZ: “There’s more white people in America and unfortunately they don’t vote based on ability and achievements; it’s still sometimes a white and black thing.”

Matthew, who used to be the singer’s manager, said her album being overlooked “speaks for itself” and he’s not surprised about the lack of nominations due to the “current state of American culture”.

He added: “In America, there’s no accountability for people not being accepting of other cultures.”