Bunnie XO Revisits the Moment Before Jelly Roll’s Unexpected First Ever CMT Award Win

Bunnie XO has shared a heartwarming new video shedding fresh light on Jelly Roll's momentous 2023 CMT Awards triumph. Bunnie narrates a throwback video showing the moments before Jelly's name was called out and he won his first ever major award.

In the caption, Bunnie reminds fans she's always been by Jelly's side, “Behind every good man, is a woman that believes in him. Throwback to him winning his first award ever”. Jelly recently paid tribute to this fact with his sweet ode to Bunnie, ‘Thorns’.

As the clip plays, we see a nervous-looking Jelly and Bunnie in the stands as the nominated artists for Male Video are read out. It was a hotly contested group, with stellar visuals such as Cody Johnson's ‘Human’, Luke Combs‘ ‘The Kind Of Love We Make’ and Cole Swindell's ‘She Had Me at Heads Carolina’ all vying for the award.

Jelly was up for the gong courtesy of his emotional ‘Son of a Sinner’ music video. Now, of course, the Nashville native is a global chart-topping, GRAMMY-winning artist, but at this time in 2023, he had only just made the switch to country music, and was still seeing some pushback from traditional-leaning pockets of the genre.

As a result, despite the gravitas and poignance of the ‘Son of a Sinner’ video, which features cleverly interspersed clips of an array of down-and-out figures drinking alone in the same spot at a bar, Jelly wasn't one of the favourites to take home the award.

He clearly felt the same way, with Bunnie's new clip showcasing how Jelly had no idea his name was about to be announced as the winner of the 2023 CMT Male Video Award.

Bunnie begins, “Let me narrate how this went for you guys”, before recalling how she confidently advised her husband to “wipe your face - you're going to win the award”.

He immediately responds by dismissing the notion outright, “I'm not going to win this award”. Bunnie follows this up by reiterating that she really believes he's about to triumph, “Ok, get ready”, with Jelly laughing this off, joking that if he wins “I'll cry!”

Jelly then mutters, “No way, no way”, a matter of seconds before his name is called out as the winner of the prestigious award. His and Bunnie's euphoric reactions are priceless, with the latter playfully telling him, “I told you!”, as he holds his head in his hands.

Of course, as we all remember from that unforgettable night, Jelly did indeed cry when he strode onto that CMT Awards stage, and this also marked the first in a string of now-iconic, soul-stirring speeches from the ‘Need a Favor’ singer-songwriter.

Despite often being the subject of unfair scrutiny and criticism for being ‘unorthodox’ and not looking like the typical country country couple, Bunnie and Jelly have established themselves as inspirational beacons of light in the Music City landscape.

Jelly continues to utilise his platform to spread a message of positivity and redemption, both through his music and his philanthropy, while Bunnie connects to and advises millions of fans that are struggling via her popular Dumb Blonde Podcast.

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