Kacey Musgraves and Kelsea Ballerini have accused country music radio stations of "inequality" in their airplay rules.
In a now-deleted tweet posted by employees at Michigan radio station 98 KCQ Country, it was claimed that they "cannot play two females back to back. Not even (female-led groups) Lady Antebellum or Little Big Town against another female."
Following the tweet, Kacey took to Twitter to call out the radio station, writing: "Smells like white male bulls**t and why LONG ago I decided they cannot stop me."
She added in a separate tweet: "And yet, they can play 18 dudes who sound exactly the same back to back. Makes total sense."
Meanwhile, Kelsea offered her apologies to her female peers, tweeting: "To all the ladies that bust their a**es to have half the opportunities that men do, I'm really sorry that in 2020, after YEARS of conversation of equal play, there are still some companies that make their stations play by these rules."
She added: "ALEXA PLAY LBT LADY A CARRIE MIRANDA KACEY CARLY GABBY MAREN INGRID RUNAWAY JUNE M&T LAUREN... ALL IN A ROW (sic)."
Kelsea then took her argument to Instagram, sharing a screenshot of her Twitter response and writing: "I say this having been one of the few women who have been really embraced by country radio and having watched some of the bigger networks (and some of my friends that are pd's and high up) make real changes in their programming to make it look more balanced. I am grateful.
"BUT. There is still inequality in airplay for women. And tweets like this prove it. And it's my job to say it out loud and post about it, because of the girls moving to Nashville (or wherever) that are ready to outrun and outwork and outplay everyone. They deserve to know that they have the same shot as the guys moving here to do the same."
Concluding her post, the 26-year-old wrote: "Country music -- We have to fix this. For us and for them. How do we do it? Let's talk. (Also -- don't lash out at this station, they are playing by rules set for them from their higher-ups)."
