Kelsea Ballerini Defends Performing with Drag Queens at 2023 CMT Music Awards: 'Important Time to Show Up'

Kelsea Ballerini is proud to stand with the drag community.

In an interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast, the country star spoke about receiving anti-LGBTQ+ backlash after performing with RuPaul's Drag Race stars Kennedy Davenport, Olivia Lux, Jan Sport and Manila Luzon at the 2023 CMT Music Awards and what she learned from the experience.

Ballerini, 30, performed her single "If You Go Down (I'm Goin' Down Too)" with the four drag queens at the annual country music awards show in April — about a month after Tennessee signed Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 9 into law, which ban drag performances from occurring on any public property or location where children could be in attendance.

The Grammy-nominated musician received praise from queer-identifying viewers and allies alike, though she also faced many homophobic comments, and such reactions shifted her perspective on what it means to be an ally.

"What I’ll say is I can’t imagine what it feels like to be the drag queen on stage because the hate that I got for that was the loudest I’ve ever gotten from the public, but it doesn’t compare to what they’re getting all the time," said Ballerini.

"It really put me in my place and checked me," she explained. "I’ve always been an ally, but what does it mean, you know?"

Given the legislation that'd passed shortly before the ceremony, Ballerini added, "I just felt like it was a really important time to show up in a way that I could on a stage that felt really important."

The "Blindsided" singer realized drag performers face much more negativity than she does — in several areas of their lives. "My lesson from that was, like, what I felt from the backlash times a million is literally what they go through to express themselves, to love who they love, to be who they are, whatever it is," she said. "And that, to me, was a really, really eye-opening takeaway."

Following the 2023 CMT Music Awards, all four featured drag performers spoke to Entertainment Tonight about the performance's impact on them. "Just like all these amazing country music artists, we drag queens are also artists," said Luzon, 41, at the time. "We deserve a space to be ourselves, express ourselves, and create something wonderful for everyone to enjoy."

Sport, 30, noted that "it means so much" to be included in Ballerini's performance. "Any opportunity for us to share our gifts with the world is a blessing. So, it's more of us having a message to bless other people."

"It's not bad. It's all good. It's all love," she added. "It's all total liberation — that's what the arts are all about."

Lux, 29, spoke about a discussion the queens had with Ballerini before the performance, explaining that the "Penthouse" singer "made it really clear" that she wanted the performers to "take up that space."

"'This is your time as well, and amplify the fact that you're here,'" she recalled the singer-songwriter telling them.