Tomi Lahren Slams Kelsea Ballerini

Conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren has lashed out at country singer Kelsea Ballerini, who was left disappointed when she lost at the Grammys on Sunday.

Ballerini's album Rolling Up the Welcome Mat earned a nod in the Best Country Album category but lost to Lainey Wilson's Bell Bottom Country. Some people watching at home said she looked upset over the loss, so Ballerini took to her Instagram Story to set the record straight.

"Ohhhh yall," she wrote on February 5. "You can be bummed for your loss and happy for somebody else's win at the same time. Two things can be true and both hold valid and valuable space. The face reading and reaction analysis is unnecessary and hurtful to everyone."

She added: "A woman's win is a team win. Write about that instead?"

E! News then shared an Instagram post about Ballerini's candid reaction with the caption: "#KelseaBallerini is setting the record straight. Link in bio for her view from the #GRAMMYs."

However, Lahren isn't impressed with Ballerini's explanation—and she's made her feelings known.

Newsweek contacted representatives for Ballerini and Lahren for comment via email Wednesday.

"She's also a liberal who hates actual country music so...." Lahren commented on the post from E! News.

This is in reference to the fact that Ballerini performed onstage at the CMT awards in April 2023 with a group of high-profile drag queens, which Lahren criticized her for on social media at the time.

Ballerini served as co-host of the awards show and performed her hit "If You Go Down (I'm Goin' Down Too)" during the ceremony in Austin, Texas. Alongside the singer were RuPaul's Drag Race alumni, Manila Luzon, Jan Sport, Kennedy Davenport, and Olivia Lux. The performance ended with rainbow lights and matching confetti.

Ballerini's choice of song and accompanying performers was seen by many as sending a message to lawmakers across the country who were pushing to ban drag queen performances.

Her home state of Tennessee was the first to sign legislation that would ban "adult cabaret entertainment" in public areas where minors could see it. That move was dealt a blow when Judge Thomas Parker temporarily halted the law just hours before it was due to take effect as it represented an "unconstitutional restriction on the freedom of speech."

Lahren was unimpressed with the drag queens' appearance and took to X (formerly Twitter) to decry their performance in a series of posts.

"Y'all just don't stop do you? Does everything have to be a platform to shove the rainbow mafia down our throats? Can you ever just do...idk...country freakin music?!!!!" she wrote on a retweet of the drag queens posing on the CMTs red carpet.

She later wrote: "The country music INDUSTRY has gone full woke despite actual COUNTRY MUSIC FANS not buying into any of this mess. RIP CMT."

And finally added: "Some of y'all blindly think this trans movement is about individuality and expression, no. It's a manipulative and sneaky way for big Pharma to have a lock on these people for the rest of their lives. Wake up."

Ballerini appeared to ignore the critics when she tweeted: "tweeted: "if you go down, i'm going down too 🏳️‍🌈// thank you to these iconic queens and... CMT for celebrating love, self expression, and performance."

Over the past several months, many conservatives have criticized drag queens throughout the U.S. and many Republican-led states have sought to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors.

In Texas, where the country music awards were hosted, Republican State Representative Nate Schatzline sponsored a bill to amend the definition of a venue that hosts a drag performance and "authorizes on-premises consumption of alcoholic beverages" as a "sexually oriented business." Minors would not be allowed to enter such a venue.

However, a federal judge in Texas declared that Senate Bill 12 was "unconstitutional." Per CNN, U.S. District Judge David Hittner wrote in his ruling that blocked state authorities from enforcing the law the bill "impermissibly infringes on the First Amendment and chills free speech."