Kirt Webster's Publicist of the Year Award Rescinded

After sexual assault allegations were leveled against Nashville publicist Kirt Webster, public relations industry group PR News has rescinded a Publicist of the Year award that was given to Webster, citing the allegations, the Tennessean reports.

On Tuesday (Dec. 5), Webster was named the 2017 PR People Awards Publicist of the Year at a luncheon held at the National Press Club, and on Wednesday, after media reports of the award began to surface, the organization withdrew the honor.

PR People Awards removed all references of Webster from its website and added a note addressing the situation.

"PR News has rescinded the 2017 Publicist of the Year award given to Kirt Webster amid just-released allegations against Webster of sexual abuse," the statement read. "The PR News judges had no knowledge of these actions four months ago during the judging process."

The allegations against Webster were first reported by the Nashville Scene, with former country singer Austin Rick claiming that Webster groped him, among other sexual assault. Since then, other allegations have been leveled against Webster by former employees.

After the allegations were revealed, stars like Kid Rock, Randy Travis and Billy Ray Cyrus have left Webster's firm, Webster Public Relations.

Photo Credit: Getty / Rick Diamond