Kenny Chesney, who has won the Entertainer of the Year award four years in a row, criticized the voting process for the award on Sunday after he accepted the award onstage. Backstage Chesney told reporters:

"I don’t think it’s right that they pick the one award that means the most, that all the artists sacrifice the most for."

Despite the criticisms Chesney had a big banner on his MySpace page that said "bring it home for KC," urging fans to vote for him. The page included links to the academy’s online page and messages from fans lower on the page.

Chesney made clear Sunday night that his criticism was an industry complaint about the process for one award, not a dig at his fans or at the awards show overall. It was the first time in the show’s 43 years that the top prize was decided by a fan vote.

Chesney added:

"They’ve taken it from what the award really represents (and turned it) into a sweepstakes to see who can push people’s buttons the hardest on the Internet."

If he really disagreed with it, then Chesney should have refused to play the game. Since he did play the game, he sounds hypocritical.

Kenny Chesney was checked out by an orthopedic doctor after he hurt his foot and ankle in a hydraulic lift accident over the weekend (video here) as he made his entrance onstage. Cheney had a large hematoma that extended from his ankle to his foot. The hematoma was so big Chesney’s boot had to be cut off after his performance, which he finished despite the pain. Chesney said:

"Dr. Elrod got that the last thing I want to do is cancel shows, but also that I don’t want any kind of lasting damage, because being able to hit that stage and really rock the fans is important to me. He told me it’s going to hurt, though nothing could hurt worse than Saturday I don’t think, and they can give me something to deaden the pain when I get out there."

Doctors gave Chesney the go ahead to continue his tour. Watch out for those hydraulic lifts.

Over the weekend Kenny Chesney hurt his right ankle at the start of his concert when a cable intended for safety got caught in the lift and hurt his leg. This is video showing how it all went down. Kenny was obviously hurt and in pain, but he managed to play the entire concert anyway.

Kenny Chesney performed in front of 44,424 people on Saturday in Columbia, South Carolina, but before he could go on there was a techical malfunction. Chesney was rising up from underneath the stage on a lift, but a safety harness around his right ankle got caught and the lift jolted, then pull his ankle awkwardly. Chesney winced in pain, then the crew lowered the lift a bit, and it took about 30 seconds for him to get himself out of the harness. All the while the band kept playing.

Chesney never mentioned his injury, but performed the entire show in obvious pain, and limped while holding his knee most of the time. Once the show finished the team physician from the University of South Carolina cut off Chesney’s boot to treat his swollen ankle, and painful knee.

After the show Chesney released the following statement:

"I took one look at those fans, and there was no way I wasn’t going on. Sometimes the energy and the adrenalin pull you through. They had come to rock, and there was no way I was sending them home with anything less than the best of what me and my guys came to do, put it all out there and give them back at least as good as they gave us."

Chesney added:

"Honestly, through the pain, through all of it, Columbia, S.C., totally got me through."

Spoken like a real professional. The show must go on, and it did. He did it for the fans.

In "That Ain’t Right" news, Renee Zellweger and Paul McCartney were seen enjoying each other’s company at the Tom Petty Show in the Hamptons. MSN reports:

Although his acrimonious divorce from Heather Mills is not yet finalized, Paul McCartney appears to be getting by with a little help from his friends — his famous, pretty blond friends.

The New York Daily News reports the pop icon, 65, enjoyed a tête-à-tête with Renée Zellweger, 38, at a Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers concert Saturday night in the Hamptons.

The weedy if freakishly muscular Oscar winner, who has a well-documented soft spot for musical men (see her "fraud"-annulled marriage to Kenny Chesney and onetime romance with Jack White), "smiled, laughed and hung on [McCartney's] every word," according to the paper, which snapped the pair amiably chatting.

However, a "mole" says that the idea of a romance between the two facially challenged people is just not so.

"I don’t believe there’s anything between them," the mole tells the paper. "He was sitting with Amy Poehler and her husband, and [Renee] was with two friends and left 15 minutes after he did."

This is a relief, as the only bi-product from this relationship would be a child that looks like the kid from "Mask."