After Mickey Guyton cited an all-female music video that she said she was disinvited to participate in in a guest column for Billboard that ran June 9, it was revealed that the video she declined to name was The Highwomen’s “Redesigning Women” video.
In the column, Guyton wrote about what it felt like to be one of the few artists of color —she is the only female of color signed to a major country label—and the lack of support she felt from the country community. In particular, she wrote about rushing from Los Angeles to be a part of the 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. 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.”
Following the column’s publication, in news first reported by Saving Country Music, Highwoman member Maren Morris confirmed on June 11 that the video Guyton was referring to was “Redesigning Women” when a fan asked her directly about it. This was after she had given a shout out to Guyton’s new song, “Black Like Me.”
“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,” she tweeted. The Highwomen also includes Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby
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.
— MAREN MORRIS (@MarenMorris) June 11, 2020
Guyton has not responded publicly to Morris’s apology, but did thank her for her support of “Black Like Me.”
Thank you sis for seeing me https://t.co/WMY6dpzYIO
— Mickey Guyton (@MickeyGuyton) June 11, 2020
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None of the other Highwomen have commented on their Twitter pages, though Hemby has retweeted a number of tweets praising “Black Like Me.”
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Guyton’s publicist did not respond to requests for further comment and Morris’s publicist declined to comment beyond the singer’s tweet.
