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Garth Brooks' decision to lip sync at the CMA Awards became a bit of a controversy after Anderson East and Miranda Lambert weighed in, the country star took it all in stride. During his appearance on Ellen this week, he reiterated that he did it all to save his voice for his fans.
"I love awards shows I think they're sweet," Brooks said to Ellen DeGeneres. "But for me, they're like the tree is to Christmas though: they're the symbol of it but they're not what it's all about. What it's about are the people who put their butts in the seat, travel, fight that traffic, pay the parking and that's who you want to save your voice for," Brooks said as the audience applauded. "If it happened again tomorrow, I'd make the same decision."
Brooks lost his voice after an intense string of performances. He had 12 shows in 10 days with the CMAs in the middle of it all. With seven more shows scheduled for the week after the awards, he felt like vocal rest was his only option.
READ MORE: Garth Brooks Performs "Ask Me How I Know" at the 2017 CMA Awards
He was upfront about his decision to lip-sync but still faced criticism, most notably from Anderson East, who took to Instagram to voice that he felt "offended" by Brooks' lip syncing. Miranda Lambert chimed in on the thread to back up her boyfriend stating, "If you can't sing then don't. It's better to be honest than to pretend."
