The Country Music Association (CMA) Awards saw its first gay kiss Wednesday when T.J. Osborne of the duo Brothers Osborne celebrated his Vocal Duo of the Year win by kissing his boyfriend, Abi Ventura.
Osborne and Ventura’s kiss marked the first on-air same-sex kiss in CMA Awards history, according to BuzzFeed.
“It’s been a crazy rollercoaster of a year for us in so many ways, especially for me emotionally,” T.J. Osborne said during his acceptance speech at the CMA Awards. “And to have you all support me, it really does feel like love wins tonight. Thank you.”
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“Give this boy a round of applause,” T.J. Osborne’s brother and bandmate, John Osborne, added. “We love this genre. We love the people. We love all of you so much.”
The same-sex kiss at the CMA Awards comes nine months after T.J. Osborne came out as gay, according to a report by Yahoo! News.
Later in the evening, Brothers Osborne performed one of their songs, “Younger Me,” which T.J. wrote after he came out publicly.
“For many years I would watch this show, year after year, and I always thought how incredible it would be — I would dream of being up here on this stage,” T.J. told the crowd.
“And there’s so many things that were so many hurdles for me, and I always felt, truthfully felt, like it would never be possible, because of my sexuality, to be here,” he added. “And I just wish my younger me could see me now.”
Watch Below:
Brothers Osborne then began their song, of which the lyrics appear to be T.J. addressing his younger, closeted self, singing:
“Younger me made it harder than it had to be, trying hard to dodge my destiny, would get the best of me. Yeah, younger me, way too young to pace a bedroom floor, always dreamed of kicking down the door, what were you waiting for?”
“Yeah, younger me, overthinking, losing sleep at night, contemplating if it’s worth the fight, if he only knew he’d be alright,” the song’s lyrics continued. “Younger me, hanging out but not quite fitting in, didn’t know that being different, really wouldn’t be the end.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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