Rising country star Morgan Wallen has been given some enormous second chances. Folks who don’t follow mainstream country probably first heard about him when he was disinvited from playing SNL in October after breaking the show’s COVID protocol — a Boner Award-worthy achievement. He made a public apology that seemed genuine and got to play a makeup gig in December. In January, he played a sold-out show (albeit to a COVID-adjusted reduced audience) at the Ryman.
Last night, TMZ published video of the 27-year-old Sneedville, Tenn., native and Nashville resident filmed by his neighbors late on Sunday night or early Monday morning. Some of it’s fairly innocuous, if extremely inconsiderate: Wallen and some pals apparently went out on the town and came back drunk and rowdy. If they were celebrating, the occasion might have been the chart success of Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album, which was released Jan. 8 and came in at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart for the third straight week.
In the published video, you can see and hear Wallen and friends honking their horns and hollering in the middle of the street. You can also hear Wallen referring to someone as a “pussy-ass n*****.”
The revelation of this casual use of a powerful racial slur prompted another apology from Wallen. “I’m embarrassed and sorry,” reads a statement posted along with the video at TMZ. “I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.”
However, Wallen isn’t getting the same kind of slack he got in October. CMT tweeted that network staff is working to remove all content featuring Wallen across its platforms. Big Loud Records tweeted that Wallen’s contract has been suspended indefinitely, with full support from Republic Records, the Universal Music Group subsidiary that co-released Dangerous.
Both critics and other country stars have pointed out that this incident isn’t a surprise or an anomaly. As has been pointed out — in many places, including pieces in the Scene — there’s a pervasive undercurrent of racism in country music. It’s prevented Black artists and other professionals from getting much more than a foothold in the business of a music they love, let alone get equitable treatment.
It’s true that racist attitudes and policies don’t wholly and solely define the South, the region most associated with country music. The way that Wallen’s latest missteps get handled is an opportunity for powerful players in country to show that they’re going to do more than just not tolerate bad behavior. Only time will tell if this will result in a serious commitment to real change.
