The 2024 CMT Music Awards paid tribute to the late Toby Keith with several songs and a very special toast with red solo cups.
Country stars Brooks & Dunn and Lainey Wilson and rock legend Sammy Hagar performed covers of Toby’s classics Should’ve Been a Cowboy, How Do You Like Me Now?!, and I Love This Bar during the ceremony, all while the crowd drank from solo cups. But it was a special tribute that truly set the mood.
To kick off the three performances, former MLB pitcher Roger Clemens, who was close friends with Toby Keith, asked the crowd to stand and raise their cups to the iconic singer. As they did, he said, “Repeat after me…let Toby hear ya… repeat after me. Whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses.”
Only way to have a #CMTAwards Toby Keith tribute is with a toast 🍻 pic.twitter.com/d3f5mpsvoX
— CMT (@CMT) April 8, 2024
Everyone in the audience and on stage chanted the words, took a swig from their cups, and loudly cheered to Toby’s memory.
Toby Keith’s Children Had A Tradition Of Attending The Award’s Show With Their Father
Toby’s children, Shelley Covel Rowland, Krystal Keith, and Stelen Keith Covel were in attendance. And they were captured on camera showing bittersweet emotions as they repeated Roger’s words.
“This is an award show that we came to quite a bit, and we’ve always come with him,” Krystal told US Weekly ahead of the ceremony. “So this is our first time being here without him. But he’s being honored, so we feel like he’s here.”
“We’re excited to hear his music, even though he’s not the one singing it,” she continued. “But we’re really honored that Brooks & Dunn and Sammy and Lainey have come to honor him in this way. So we’re really excited.”
Toby Keith passed away surrounded by his family on Feb. 5, 2024, following a two-year battle with stomach cancer. He was 62.
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