Last week Garth Brooks announced that he is permanently removing himself from the running for CMA Entertainer of the Year after winning a total of seven times throughout his career. His decision sparked a number of reactions from fans and fellow country stars including Luke Bryan, who shared his support of Carrie Underwood and Eric Church.

Bryan, who has won CMA Entertainer of the Year two times before, shares how every time he gets a nomination, that alone is "winning for him."

"I truly believe that when I won, I was deserving," Bryan said in a recent press conference. "He*l, I really felt like the best entertainer that year. And there's been years where I felt like the best entertainer and I didn't win, but that's just the way it goes."

He continues on to explain how at last year's award show he, like many others including Brooks, expected Underwood to win Entertainer Of The Year.

"My thought is, if we go for some long period of time and Carrie Underwood never wins a CMA Entertainer of the Year, that's quite disturbing for me, because she's definitely ... she's done everything you can do to win, in my opinion," Bryan says, adding, "And that goes for Eric Church."

Underwood and Church have never won Entertainer of the Year at the CMA Awards. She has been nominated twice in 2016 and 2019, while Church has been up for it three times, in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

Both are candidates to be nominees again in 2020, but the final nominations won't be revealed for several more weeks. Bryan is also a likely nominee for the Entertainer Of The Year at the 2020 CMA Awards.

Bryan's new album, Born Here, Live Here, Die Here is due out on Friday, August 7. He's previously released the title track along with "Knockin' Boots," "What She Wants Tonight," "Build Me A Daddy" and his current single "One Margarita."

Born Here, Live Here, Die Here is Bryan's first record since 2017's What Makes You Country.

Photo: Getty Images

Cindy Spicer

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