Jelly Roll Reveals Honorable Reason He Wasn’t At The People’s Choice Awards

(Left) Jelly Roll / X / (Right) People's Choice Awards / Facebook

Jelly Roll Won The Male Country Artist Of The Year Category At The 2024 People’s Choice Awards

Jelly Roll continued his winning streak by picking up a trophy at the People’s Choice Awards on Sunday (February 18). However, he was not present to accept his award in person.

Jelly Roll was nominated for two trophies: The Male Country Artist of the Year award and the all-genre New Artist of the Year award.

He won the former category, beating out his fellow nominees Chris Stapleton, Cody Johnson, HARDY, Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, and Zach Bryan.

As mentioned previously, Jelly Roll did not attend the ceremony this year. But why?

Jelly Roll won the People's Choice Award for Male Country Artist of the Year
John Lamparski / Getty Images

Jelly Roll Explains Why He Didn’t Attend The Ceremony

In a video posted on social media on Monday (February 19), Jelly Roll shared the reason why he didn’t attend the People’s Choice Awards. And the reason is quite honorable.

Jelly Roll explained how he was visiting with incarcerated juveniles in his hometown.

The singer has been incredibly open about his own past behind bars. Now, he often visits jails, prisons, and juvenile detention centers to perform and visit with the people there.

I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Jelly Roll said in his video apologizing for his absence from the PCAs. “Here’s the truth: I’m actually standing in the juvenile courthouse right now, I just walked out of the juvenile facility. We partnered with the Beat of Life to bring a music program to the kids.”

Beat of Life is a nonprofit organization in Nashville whose mission is to help the city’s vulnerable populations through music.

Jelly Roll said his visit “had been on [his] calendar” for a long time. He didn’t want to break his promise to the kids and cancel to attend the PCAs.

“I know whenever I was a kid in here I got let down a lot,” he said. “I didn’t want to be one of the people letting these kids down. I had to honor my word. I hate I wasn’t [at the PCAs], but don’t take me not being there as a sign of anything other than love and respect and me trying to do better for my community, baby.” 

Head below to watch the video of Jelly Roll explaining why he couldn’t attend the People’s Choice Awards this year.