Morgan Wallen may have apologized for using n-word, but labels and big radio networks have already dropped him
On Tuesday, February 2, TMZ obtained a video that showed rising country star Morgan Wallen shouting a racial slur. In the video, Wallen and his friends can be seen pulling up in cars to the country singer’s Tennessee home. As Wallen heads inside, he shouts to a friend, "Hey, take care of this "p**** a** motherf*****... Take care of this p**** a** [expletive]," apparently in reference to one of the people with his group.
As per the TMZ report, Wallen's friends were seen Sunday night partying in Nashville. When they returned home late, a doorbell camera captured them honking their horns and causing a scene. Following this, a neighbor pulled out a cellphone to record a video in which Wallen can be heard yelling the slur.
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Dire Consequences
Following this, Wallen was reportedly dropped from the airwaves and had his contract with his label suspended. As per reports, Big Loud Label, which releases Wallen's music with Republic Records, suspended Wallen's contract indefinitely. "Republic Records fully supports Big Loud's decision and agrees such behavior will not be tolerated," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Country Music Television and iHeartRadio also announced on Wednesday that they were dropping his music from their airwaves. According to a report, Cumulus Media -- the third-largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States -- has directed their more than 400 radio stations across the country to drop Wallen's music from their playlists. Entercom -- the second-largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media markets -- said in a statement that it would be pulling Wallen's music from their network of more than 200 radio stations.
"In light of Morgan Wallen's recent use of a racial slur, we've discussed the incident with our Country brand leadership team and together have made the decision to remove Morgan's music from Entercom's playlists," a spokesperson for Entercom told CNN.
"After learning of Morgan Wallen’s racial slur late last night, we are in the process of removing his appearances from all our platforms," a Country Music Television spokesperson said in a statement. "We do not tolerate or condone words and actions that are in direct opposition to our core values that celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Wendy Goldberg, an iHeart Media representative, said in a statement, "In light of Morgan Wallen’s recent actions involving the use of a racial slur, we have made the decision to remove his music and content from our stations effective immediately."
These moves come despite the fact that Wallen's ‘Dangerous: The Double Album’ that released in January, has stayed at number one on the Billboard 200 chart for three weeks. In fact, last year, he won the Country Music Association Awards new artist of the year award and best new country artist at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Wallen has apologized. "I'm embarrassed and sorry. I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back," he said in a statement. "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."
This is not the first time Wallen's behavior on video has gotten him into trouble. In October 2020, he was pulled as the ‘Saturday Night Live’ musical performer after he was seen in TikTok videos partying without a mask and kissing several women, putting him at risk for the coronavirus. He had later admitted that he had "some growing up to do,” adding, “I think I've lost myself a little bit. I've tried to find joy in the wrong places. I don't know. It's left me with less joy, so I'm going to go try to work on that. I'm going to take a step back from the spotlight for a little while and go work on myself.”