Faith Hill says angry reaction was just a joke

Faith Hill insists she’s no Kanye West.

The country music superstar says she was just joking when cameras showed her screaming “What?” in apparent anger when she lost the female vocalist of the year award to newcomer Carrie Underwood at the Country Music Assn. Awards on Monday night in Nashville.

“The idea that I would act disrespectful towards a fellow musician is unimaginable to me,” Hill said in a statement. “For this to become a focus of attention given the talent gathered is utterly ridiculous. Carrie is a talented and deserving female vocalist of the year.”

While other nominees -- Sara Evans, Gretchen Wilson, Martina McBride -- gave the typical gracious-loser smile, Hill, who was backstage, turned to the camera and shouted, “What?” She looked upset and it looked as if she was storming off. It has been replayed endlessly on sites like YouTube.com.

Hill’s manager, Gary Borman, said in a statement: “The idea that she would ever insult or undermine another artist, let alone another human being’s success is absolutely preposterous.... She was being playful.” Underwood didn’t take it seriously, according to her publicist, Jessie Schmidt, who said that Hill spoke to Underwood after the show and that the two were fine.

This is the second time in less than a week that an award show loss has resulted in an (apparent) on-camera freakout. Last week, West stormed the stage at the MTV Europe Music Awards and interrupted the winners, claiming his video deserved the honor.