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Country music duo Maddie and Tae won the award for Group/Duo Video of the Year for their video “Woman You Got,” at last night’s CMT Awards, but only Maddie Marlow was there to accept the honor. As a result, she provided an emotional speech that declared not just her love for her partner Tae, but was a nod to Will Smith’s Oscar acceptance speech.
Marlow’s singing partner Taylor Dye gave birth to daughter Leighton in January, and chose to opt out of last night’s event, so when the award was handed out, Dye appeared on a screen remotely to accept the award with Marlow, who was on stage. During Marlow’s acceptance speech, her emotions crept in and she tearfully told Dye, “Tae, I miss you so bad,” and referenced baby Leighton, saying, “Tell that baby girl I love her.”
Marlow then made a subtle reference to Smith’s Best Actor acceptance speech, paraphrasing the advice that Smith got from his friend Denzel Washington. In Smith’s speech, he said, “Denzel said to me that’s your highest moment. Be careful. That’s when the devil comes for you.” Marlow echoed the sentiment, saying, “Damn! Let me tell you about the devil. He’ll try to get you when you’re doing right, but God loves you. God loves you. OK Devil, let’s go baby!” She closed out her speech by saying, “God knows I’ve been drinking wine. Thank you, Jesus and CMT, I’m so grateful.”
You can check out the full list of winners at last night’s CMT Awards here. In case you missed the live show, you can stream it today on CBS.com, the CBS app, and Paramount+ (it will not be available to stream on Hulu, however).
