Cody Johnson won his first-ever Entertainer of the Year award at the 61st Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday evening (May 17). He took that moment to dedicate the honor to fellow nominee Luke Combs during his acceptance speech.

Johnson, who also won the Male Artist of the Year category, admitted he wasn’t sure what to say; however, he went on to deliver moving remarks. The Texas-born artist reflected, “all I’ve ever wanted to do was be in front of a crowd and entertain. Every night on stage, I get to stand in arenas like this, and you know, they say that music is the sound of emotion,” he said on the MGM Grand Garden Arena stage in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I get to use my platform to not only promote positivity in this country and in the world — all over the world — I get to use it to make you experience emotions that I feel, whether we’re crying, whether we’re laughing, whether we’re happy or sad, I get to convey that through this thing God gave me called music.”

Johnson, whose wife welcomed Baby No. 3 in October 2025, paid tribute to his family, and share his family-focused lifestyle when he’s not on the road. He went on to share why he opted to dedicate his Entertainer of the Year win to another nominee, Combs.

“I want to dedicate this to somebody that you guys probably didn’t expect me to dedicate this to,” Johnson said. “There’s a man that was up for this award that I personally watched devote his life to country music. And I was there the night in Australia when his wife gave birth to one of their sons, and I watched the anguish and I watched the defeat on his face for not being there because he was across the world playing music in a sold-out arena. And the next night, right after, I watched him get on stage, absolutely murder the stage, and go on stage and play country music and preach the message of country music to a bunch of Australians across the world. So tonight, I want to dedicate my first Entertainer of the Year award to my buddy Luke Combs. I love you, brother. Thank you.”

Combs was on tour when his wife, Nicole Combs, welcomed the couple’s second child, son Beau Lee Combs. The The Way I Am artist opened up about navigating the “guilt” from that experience earlier this year on an episode of On Purpose with Jay Shetty, a mental health podcast featuring interviews with experts, celebrities and other guests. Combs said at the time, in part, that “it was a huge blow,” though he knows “it’s nobody’s fault, obviously.” Beau Lee arrived about two and a half weeks early in August 2023. Combs said his family is “my No. 1 priority. I want them to know that.”

Beau Lee joined big brother Tex Lawrence Combs, who arrived on Father’s Day in June 2022. Combs and his wife welcomed Baby No. 3 earlier this year, son Chet Wiley Combs.

Johnson credits Combs with opening “a lot of doors for me.” He said backstage after winning the Entertainer of the Year honor, “as a cowboy, this is the gold buckle I’ve chased my whole life.” He features Combs on a collaboration on his upcoming studio album, Banks Of The Trinity, which will arrive on June 26. Watch a clip of Johnson’s powerful Entertainer of the Year speech, shared by The Bobby Bones Show and iHeartCountry on Instagram, here:

Angie Ward