‘Morgan Waylon’? Jeff Bridges mispronounces Morgan Wallen’s name while revealing the night’s biggest CMA award

On November 21, 2024By Littum

Jeff Bridges is many things – and “legendary actor” is certainly one of them. Not only did Bridges bring The Dude to life in the 1998s The Big Lebowski, created one of the most beloved (and imitated) cinematic characters of the last 30 years, but he beautifully portrayed an alcoholic country singer in 2009’s Crazy heart and won the Best Actor Oscar for it.

Shortly after Crazy heartBridges – who used to jam around on guitar with Kris Kristofferson when the two worked together in the 1980s Heaven’s Gate – began to take music more seriously in a professional sense. After performing live a few times and trying to cover some country classics, Bridges recorded his own self-titled album of country music in 2011 with legendary producer T Bone Burnett.

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So yes, he is an actor, a singer and a legend. But it looks like Bridges might not be a particularly attentive listener when it comes to country music today, at least based on his performance at the 2024 CMA Awards on Wednesday (November 20). While presenting Entertainer of the Year (the biggest award given out by the Country Music Association) at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, Bridges announced that Morgan Wallen—one of the most popular artists today in any musical genre—was the winner. But instead of pronouncing Wallen as Wallen, Bridges said “Morgan Waylon” (or maybe “Morgan Whalen” – maybe he read Moby-Dick lately).

“Morgan’s not here, man, Morgan couldn’t make it tonight, so I’m accepting for him,” Bridges said after messing up the last name’s pronunciation.

“Let’s hear it for Morgan!” he continued as 2024 CMAs co-hosts Luke Bryan, Peyton Manning and Lainey Wilson rushed the stage to relieve him in the moment with some closing comments and jokes about their custom CMA host t-shirts.

Wallen, Waylon. Tomato, tomato. Well, you can’t be right all the time, can you? And it’s nothing a White Russian – or a rug that really ties a room together – can’t fix.

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