Blake Shelton was right: It got a liiiittle awkward at the CMAs last night

Award shows can be such a double-edged sword. While we love watching our favorite artists get rewarded for their hard work, sometimes the hosts make some dicey jokes in a room where tensions are already high. It’s become kind of a tradition to push the envelope when it comes to award show commentary, but at least last night, Blake Shelton was expecting it.

Shelton and Miranda Lambert, two icons in the country music community, divorced over the summer and are now on friendly terms, but this was the first time they’d be back in the same room together since the event. When Shelton went on Late Night with Seth Meyers, he spoke about the upcoming event:

That’s a great attitude to take, and luckily the “kicks in the face” ended up being more like gentle nudges. Hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood stood on stage and reviewed the big break ups that have happened over the past year, before getting to the moment everyone had been waiting for.

“And of course,” the hosts began. “We can’t ignore the breakup that really rocked our world — the one that’s one everybody’s mind. Two people in this very room who we all know and love — Splitsville. Look, they’re not even sitting together!”

At which point the camera panned to Kermit and Miss Piggy. Queue the lolz. They went on to add “On a completely unrelated topic…Howdy, Blake!” and even the singer himself started laughing.

Later they broke into a cover of Blake’s own song “We Don’t Have To Be Lonely Tonight,” but changed the lyrics to “We don’t have to be lonely at farmersonly.com, Blake!”

Apparently, Blake’s doing just fine. Last night, Gwen Stefani’s reps confirmed that our girl is dating Shelton. And Miranda Lambert? She took home the Vocalist of the Year award. So despite all the joking, Blake and Miranda are moving forward AND being good sports about a pretty tender topic. I’d say they deserve an award for that.

In case you missed it, here’s the full opening monologue, complete with awkward jokes starting at 3:28.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAp51wT4qhg

(Image via Youtube/ABC)