Mickey Guyton disinvited for 'Redesigning Women' video, Maren Morris calls it a 'giant miscommunication'
Mickey Guyton, who has been making headlines lately as being one of the only black women signed to a major country label, wrote in a guest column for Billboard (published on June 9) that she was disinvited to participate in an all-female music video. The video is speculated to be The Highwomen's 'Redesigning Women', which featured Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby, although Guyton never specified the name in her column.
Guyton wrote in her column about what it felt like to be one of the few artists of color and her frustrations with the lack of support from the country community, particularly detailing her experience rushing from Los Angeles to be a part of the music video. “On one occasion, I left my ailing husband, who almost died from sepsis, in California just four days after his life-saving surgery because I had been invited to be a part of a female empowerment music video full of these same women," she wrote.
"I arrived at the airport exhausted but excited. I checked my itinerary only to find that the entry had been deleted; I had been disinvited. The song was about supporting women in country, yet they disinvited the only charting African American woman in country music. Do they know? Don’t they see that I support them? Do they care? Do they want to see me? The answer is no. Let that sink in,” Guyton added.
Saving Country Music reported that after Guyton's op-ed, Maren Morris confirmed on June 11 that Guyton was referring to the 'Redesigning Women'. Morris tweeted, "We were notified of this yesterday + were completely mortified that such a giant miscommunication occurred under our watch at the shoot that day & have each reached out to Mickey privately with the utmost respect & apologies. It shouldn’t have happened & isn’t what we stand for."
This was when Morris was asked directly about it after she had given a shout-out to Guyton's new song 'Black Like Me', which reads, "I’ve known @MickeyGuyton since I moved to Nashville and she’s always had a heart of gold and a voice with such conviction. She released her single, 'Black Like Me', recently and I hope our friends at country radio give it the air time it deserves."