Anderson East Speaks Out About Garth Brooks’ CMAs Performance

Alright, here's the story. The day after Garth Brooks admitted to lip-syncing his performance of “Ask Me How I Know” at the CMAs on November 8, Miranda Lambert’s boyfriend, Anderson East, decided to weigh in. Over on Instagram, the 29-year-old singer shared his thoughts about the situation. “I keep a lot of my opinions to myself and respect anyone making music,” he wrote. “But as a person who tries to put on the best and most honest show I can night after night… this truly offends me. I was told country music is three chords and the truth.”

Now, Anderson’s post sparked quite the conversation among his followers. Many of them actually defended Garth’s decision to lip-sync. One commenter said, “Who are you? You haven’t earned the right to have an opinion about this… Have some respect. You sound foolish.” Another added, “I don’t think he’s faked his way through a highly successful career spanning almost 30 years and selling over 128 million albums. After all @GarthBrooks has done for country music, I don’t think this performance will ruin him.”

Garth during his CMAs performance. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

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Garth Brooks Fesses Up at the CMAs

Let’s rewind to the CMAs, where Garth Brooks walked away with the Entertainer of the Year award. After the show, he admitted something surprising—he lip-synced during his performance. “We’re in the middle of 12 shows in 10 days. Not 10 shows in 12 days, 12 shows in 10 days,” he explained backstage. “We did a game-time call on whether to sing the track or lip-sync and decided to lip-sync. The voice just isn’t there anymore, and you want to represent country music as best you can.”

Now, when Garth performed his emotional hit live, his fans were quick to notice something wasn’t quite right. They were vocal about it on Twitter. One fan tweeted, “GARTH BROOKS! You, sir, got caught lip-syncing. DO IT AGAIN FOR REAL, I LOVE THIS SONG. I’m upset.” Others took a more lighthearted approach, cracking jokes like, “Garth Brooks is obviously the best country singer there is… sounds the same live as he does recorded,” and “Congrats to Garth Brooks for winning the first-ever CMAs award for mime.”

What Did Fans Really Think?

During the performance, it was pretty clear that Garth wasn’t singing the whole time. At some points, he even moved his mouth away from the mic, but the track kept going. Plus, the song sounded exactly like the recorded version. That said, many of Garth’s fans didn’t mind if he sang live or not. One supporter tweeted, “I feel like there is country music singers and there is Garth. Not sure anyone will ever be on his level.” Another added, “Can we just give him the Garth Brooks Award, for being… Garth Brooks?”

There might not be a Garth Brooks Award (yet), but the man did win Entertainer of the Year for the second year in a row. When Reba McEntire handed him the award, Garth told the audience, “Getting this presented to me by the entertainer of a lifetime, I thank you. Miranda [Lambert] said it best, Little Big Town said it best — we’re a family. All you guys down here on the front row: We can all agree on one thing. Let’s all raise a toast… to the band and crew. I was talking to Kelsea [Ballerini] backstage about how we get to do this for a living… The most important thing other than God… is you [fans]… I love you guys. We’re a family.” Congratulations on your big win, Garth!