LATEST: Singer Toby Keith insists he left the ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS prematurely due to a recording session with WILLY NELSON - not because of NATALIE MAINES' slur.

At a satellite-beamed performance from Texas for the awards ceremony in Las Vegas last week (ends23MAY03), DIXIE CHICK Maines donned a T-shirt emblazoned with 'F.U.T.K' as a reported retaliation to Keith who branded her a 'big mouth' after she declared being "ashamed" that president George W Bush hails from her home state of Texas.

And when Keith missed picking up his award as country music's Entertainer Of The Year, speculation mounted that he left because of Maines' slight. But the star says singing and songwriting duties with Nelson were the reasons for his departure.

Keith, who says he wasn't expecting to win the award after losing out on seven others that night, writes on his website, "I didn't think I had any kind of shot at winning Entertainer Of The Year, so I took advantage of a rare opportunity to write a song with Willie Nelson. I was with Willie working on a song and singing and picking when I found out I had won."

But during a TV interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Keith still had cutting words for Maines, stating, "Stuff comes out of her blowhole daily."

He sarcastically added a message to the blonde beauty: "I love you with all my heart."

25/05/2003 20:59