The face-tattooed singer-rapper took home the award for New Artist of the Year at last night’s award ceremony
Jelly Roll came out on top at last night’s CMA Awards, opening the show with a boisterous performance of “Need a Favor” alongside Wynonna Judd and joining K. Michelle to sing the Judds‘ “Love Can Build a Bridge” for the finale. He even managed to snag the New Artist of the Year between performances. But it seems the night’s excitement might have gotten the best of the face-tattooed singer-rapper — Jelly Roll dropped his trophy before he could even get it home, shattering it to pieces.
Jelly Roll reposted a photo of his shattered award on X (formerly known as Twitter). While he didn’t add any additional comments on the incident, the tweet stated that the singer is already set to receive a replacement trophy.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight about the incident, Jelly Roll joked that he was passing the trophy around “like a bag of potatoes” when it slipped right out of his hands.
“I’m so embarrassed,” he said. “I was so excited. I was swinging around to let somebody hold it. I’d been passing it around like a bag of popcorn. I’ve been just letting everybody … like a bag of potatoes, like we were just all sharing or something. I feel bad. Oh God.”
And perhaps dropping the trophy was really just some kind of symbolism for the inspirational message delivered to fans during his New Artist of the Year acceptance speech, urging the importance of never giving up on your dreams, no matter what setbacks might happen.
“There’s something poetic about a 39-year-old man winning new artist of the year. I don’t know where you’re at in your life or what you’re going through, but I want to tell you to keep going, baby. I want to tell you, ‘Success is on the other side,’” he declared. “I want to tell you, ‘It’s going to be OK!’ I want to tell you that the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror for a reason, because what’s in front of you is so much more important than what’s behind you!”
He concluded his speech by yelling, “Let’s party, Nashville!” raising his (still intact) trophy as the audience gave him a standing ovation.