Morgan Evans Responds To Chase Stokes’ Heated Instagram Comment

Chase Stokes entered the Instagram comments section after Kelsea Ballerini’s ex-husband, Morgan Evans, made a rare comment about their 2022 divorce during a March 3 appearance on The BobbyCast podcast. Now, Evans is responding the Stokes’ heated comment.

“I definitely wasn’t [expecting our divorce], and it took me by surprise,” Evans told host Bobby Bones on the podcast. “But yeah, that whole time is such a blur. It almost feels like somebody else, just from where I’m sitting now. I just look back and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God.’ … Yeah, it was just kind of a whirlwind, life-changing moment.”

Ballerini sang extensively about her split from Evans in her Grammy-nominated EP Rolling Up The Welcome Mat. (The release included plenty of pointed lyrics, including "Were you blindsided or just blind?” and “When I left town, did you hate me?”).

According to Evans, Ballerini’s comments on their split felt unfair. “In my case, it didn’t feel like it necessarily had a lot to do with me,” he said. “I think maybe I was presented, or made out to be, or became an archetype for any guy that had done any woman wrong during that period of time. Like, some of the stuff was just like … ‘What? What are you even talking about?”

Evans also commented on the public hate. “It doesn’t not hurt … especially if [the hate comment] was real vicious or something,” she said. “And then I’d click on whoever said it and just have a look and just be like, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s OK. That looks like somebody going through a tough time.’”

Stokes — who seemingly split from Ballerini in February after months of breaking up and reuniting — left a surprising (and since-deleted) comment under a video of the interview. “This is about the most pathetic excuse of masculinity ive ever seen. Get a f*cking life,” he wrote.

Taking to Instagram on March 5, Evans poked fun at Stokes’ comment. He shared several stereotypically manly photo moments — lifting a refrigerator, working on a car, and chopping wood — and added a pointed caption, “Feeling pretty masculine today. Album out in 2 weeks!”

Stokes’ words also prompted Bones to speak out to defend Evans — and his right to discuss his past relationship. “[Evans] wrote a record about his life, and part of that record, just a part, a small part of the record, is about a divorce that he went through,” Bones said in a March 4 Instagram video. “The whole record is not that. Most of the record’s not that, because there’s parts about his traveling around the world, his new relationship, which, she’s awesome — like, all these positive things.”

“If you’re gonna come that hard then maybe don’t take it down. Also, nothing bad to say about this person,”Bones added, referring to Stokes’ heated comment, before insinuating there was a double standard. “I’m sure he’s probably a good guy. Mostly, like, in my heart, I just wonder why certain people can talk about things and other people can’t.”