Jelly Roll‘s wife, Bunnie Xo, has a very direct — and unfiltered — message to those hating on his 2026 Grammys speech.
During the Sunday, February 8, episode of her “Dumb Blonde” podcast, Bunnie Xo, 46, slammed backlash after Jelly Roll, 41, repeatedly mentioned his faith while accepting an award at the event earlier this month, saying, “The problem is, people are weaponizing the Bible and religion way more than they are celebrating the name of Jesus. It’s to the point where they’re just proving why people do not want to be a Christian.”
Bunnie Xo noted she has a complex relationship with religion herself.
“For the longest time, I didn’t want to be a Christian because of what I saw growing up. Everything that I saw was hypocrisy — the congregation just backbiting each other,” she recalled. “But I grew up around people who I did not want to be like. Seeing all of these people online just tearing apart my husband’s walk of faith makes me not want to associate with that type of Christianity.”
Jelly Roll brought up his relationship with faith during his acceptance speech for Best Contemporary Country Album. “First of all, Jesus, I hear you and I am listening, Lord. I am listening, Lord,” the singer said. “I wanna tell y’all right now, Jesus is for everybody. Jesus is not owned by one political party. Jesus is not owned by no music label. Jesus is Jesus, and everybody can have a relationship with him.”
Bunnie Xo called the social media response to the speech “so horrific” and “so sad.” “It’s borderline demonic,” she added on Sunday.” When I’ve been seeing videos where people are saying that my husband is a performative Christian.”
Bunnie Xo went on to call out a “f***ing c***bag” who insulted Jelly Roll.
“I forget who she was but she made a video and she’s like, ‘Do you guys want to know what kind of Christian Jelly Roll is? For those of you who don’t know, it’s a performative Christian,’” Bunnie Xo said of the unnamed woman. “First of all, if I wasn’t trying to walk with God, I would find you and slap the s*** out of you lady. Because your voice, the pitch was just so much. It was like nails on a f***ing chalkboard. But I’m trying to turn the other cheek and be better. To me, in what world is it OK to ever question somebody’s walk with God?”
Jelly Roll has been on a mission to lose weight. “Next year when y’all see me you won’t recognize me,” the country star (real name Jason DeFord) said in an October 2024 Instagram video, revealing he’s lost more than 100 pounds. “I’m going to get under a pile of weights in a way that I never […]
She continued: “My husband is not sitting there saying, ‘You need to go to church. You need to donate to this congregation. You need to donate to this church.’ He’s not saying that. I could understand if he was like, ‘You need to do this.’ He’s literally not even saying anything. He’s not asking for anything.”
Bunnie Xo stood by the message behind her husband’s speech.
“All he is saying is, ‘Hey, Jesus is for everybody. Jesus does not belong to one political party. Jesus loves you,’” she concluded. “And the internet lost their minds.”
In addition to winning Best Contemporary Country Album for his 2024 LP, Beautifully Broken, Jelly Roll took home awards for Best Country Duo/Group Performance with Shaboozey for “Amen,” and Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song, which he shared with “Hard Fought Hallelujah” collaborator Brandon Lake.
