Kelsea Ballerini‘s ex-husband Morgan Evans had a not-so-subtle response to Chase Stokes.
“Feeling pretty masculine today,” Evans, 40, captioned an Instagram post on Thursday, March 5. “Album out in 2 weeks!”
Evans shared multiple photos of him doing “masculine” activities, including lifting a refrigerator over his head. A second image featured Evans looking underneath the hood of a car, where his upcoming album, Steel Town, was placed.
He continued to poke fun at Stokes’ criticisms by chopping a piece of wood in a separate video. The country singer did it all with a smile, and his album — set to be released on March 20 — in frame.
Evans’ post received several positive comments, including one from Bobby Bones, who has found himself involved in the drama.
“I laughed,” he wrote.
The social media response comes days after Stokes took aim at Evans in a since-deleted Instagram comment.
“This is about the most pathetic excuse of masculinity I’ve ever seen,” Stokes, 33, commented on an Instagram post from Bones, who was promoting his Tuesday, March 3, interview with Evans. “Get a f***ing life.”
Chase Stokes went after country singer Morgan Evans via social media following his comments about their mutual ex, Kelsea Ballerini. Evans appeared on Bobby Bones’ “The BobbyCast” podcast in March 2025, claiming that he was “not expecting” his divorce from Ballerini. (The two singers were married from 2017 to 2022.) “It took me by surprise,” […]
The clip Bones posted featured Evans discussing his 2022 divorce from Ballerini, 32, who Stokes has been dating on and off since 2023.
Bones, 45, screenshotted the comment and responded with an Instagram video of his own.
“If you’re going to come that hard, maybe you don’t want to take that [comment] down,” Bones said, noting that only a small part of their interview was about the divorce.
“I thought he came off really well. I thought he was very kind in his version of events. There’s three stories, right? There’s his story, her story and the real story,” Bones said. “This masculinity thing was just weird. Why would you challenge someone’s masculinity?”
Evans and Ballerini were married for nearly five years before announcing their split. Evans told Bones earlier this week that he was taken “by surprise” and was “not expecting” a divorce.
Evans wondered if he “became an archetype for any guy that had done any woman wrong during that period of time,” noting that it “doesn’t not hurt” when he sees comments from that time. Evans explained that his divorce, in part, inspired some of the songs on Steel Town.
“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,’” Evans said. “Yeah, it was just kind of a whirlwind, life-changing moment.”
