Was Beyoncé's country album rejected by the Academy of Country Music? Jay-Z's payola scam claim debunked 

A rumor surfaced on Facebook recently that the Academy of Country Music reportedly rejected Beyoncé’s country album due to her husband Jay-Z’s alleged payola scam. The claim was posted by America’s Last Line of Defense on June 3, 2025, with the caption:

“Beyoncé and her ‘country’ album were rejected for admission to the Academy of Country Music by a 196-4 vote. The Country Music Association released a statement citing Jay-Z’s payola scam as the reason.”

It continued,

“He bought his wife a Country Music Grammy, which cheapens the award for every other artist. It is unlikely that Beyoncé will ever be admitted to the organization.”

It was accompanied by a collage of Queen Bey alongside an image of the Academy of Country Music’s building interior. Jay-Z’s picture was also attached with another showing him with his wife. The post had Jordan James’ song Rejected as its background music and amassed over 1.6 million views as of writing.

Regardless, the now-viral claim is fake. It is true that Beyoncé’s country album, Cowboy Carter, which was released on March 29, 2024, was not nominated for an Academy of Country Music (ACM) Award this year despite her wins at the 2025 Grammys.

However, there is no official or credible source or evidence to support that Jay-Z’s alleged payola scam was the reason behind the snubbing. Additionally, the ACM is different from the CMA (Country Music Association), and neither has released any statement regarding Queen Bey or her husband.

There is also no proof that Jay-Z had anything to do with Beyoncé winning three Grammy awards this year for Cowboy Carter. Additionally, the Facebook page America’s Last Line of Defense is known for its parodical content, as evident from the watermark below the post that reads:

“Nothing on this page is real.”

Its bio also states it is the “flagship of the ALLOD network of trollery and propaganda for cash.” The page is also affiliated with the satirical website dunning-kruger-times.com and parody creator Busta Troll, who are known for making fictional and fabricated claims for virality and sensationalism.

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More about Jay-Z’s alleged payola scam amid Beyoncé’s ACM, CMA snubs

Beyoncé was snubbed at the 2024 CMA Awards as well as the 2025 ACM Awards despite releasing her hit country album, Cowboy Carter, last year, which earned the Best Country Album at the 2025 Grammys. However, as already debunked, it has nothing to do with Jay-Z’s alleged payola scam.

For the uninitiated, in February 2024, the YouTube channel Arrow Link shared a video with the title, “Jay-Z Exposed For Bullying Radio Stations To Play Beyoncé's New Songs.”

However, it turned out to be fake. The video’s description came with the disclaimer:

“All TOPICS are for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY! None of the information presented in this video or by ARROW LINK should be taken as FACT, and everything is ALLEGED.”

Likewise, in April 2024, the Facebook page America’s Last Line of Defense published a post alleging that Jay-Z “paid more than $20 million to country radio stations to play' his wife’s songs, 'so she’d top the Billboard country charts.”

“Don't believe the hype about Beyoncé topping the country charts. Our source tells us it's all pay-for-play,” the caption added.

However, this too turned out to be a satire as everything on America’s Last Line of Defense website is fictional, altered, and misleading, as per its bio.

At the time, fact-check websites such as Snopes and media outlet Reuters debunked the Jay-Z payola scam claim.