[3][4] In March 2018, three women accused Byrd of sexually abusing them while they were underage members of the high school basketball team he coached.
"[6] He resisted calls to resign from influential Republicans such as Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell, and won re-election in 2018.
[7] Calls for his resignation or retirement continued into 2019 and 2020, including an unsuccessful resolution by Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson to expel Byrd from the House.
In June 2020, Byrd voted in support of Tennessee House Resolution 340 stating that "mainstream media has sensationalized the reporting on COVID-19 in the service of political agendas.
"[15] However, on August 11, 2021, he joined all members of the state house Republican caucus in signing a letter to Governor Bill Lee asking him to prohibit mask and vaccine mandates.