Legendary country musician Charley Pride passed away yesterday due to complications from COVID-19 at the age of 86. Last month, Pride was given the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the Country Music Association Awards, which were controversially held in-person in Nashville amidst multiple scheduled performers testing positive for COVID-19.
Pride's appearance at the show and subsequent contraction of the virus prompted enough speculation, from such sources as country singers Maren Morris and Mickey Guyton among others, that the Country Music Association issued a statement about their testing protocols, insisting that Pride tested negative multiple times both before and after the awards ceremony. Here's the statement:
Everyone affiliated with the CMA Awards followed strict testing protocols outlined by the city health department and unions. Charley was tested prior to traveling to Nashville. He was tested upon landing in Nashville, and again on show day, with all tests coming back negative. After returning to Texas following the CMA Awards, Charley again tested negative multiple times. All of us in the Country Music community are heartbroken by Charley’s passing. Out of respect for his family during their grieving period, we will not be commenting on this further.
Maren Morris says we ‘should be outraged’ if indoor #CMAs contributed Charley Pride’s death. pic.twitter.com/ztRJSPVLkg
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) December 13, 2020
We need answers as to how Charley Pride got covid.
— Mickey Guyton (@MickeyGuyton) December 12, 2020
