The Country Music Industry Reacts Swiftly to Morgan Wallen's Use of the N-Word

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | February 3, 2021 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | February 3, 2021 |

If you are familiar with Morgan Wallen at all, many of you may only know him as the country musician who went out last year and partied during the pandemic on the night before his scheduled appearance as the musical guest on SNL, which was canceled when pictures of that partying surfaced on social media. Lorne Michaels inexplicably rescheduled that appearance a few months later, after Wallen’s apology.

Wallen also has a mullet in 2021.

Sunday night, a Nashville neighbor of Wallen’s got pissed off with the musician for being rowdy with his buddies in the middle of the night, and so that neighbor began recording Wallen. In the course of recording him, the neighbor captured Wallen casually saying to a friend to watch over another friend. “Take care of this “p****-ass mother******”, Wallen says, before adding, “take care of this p****-ass n*****.”

There is a lot wrong with America right now, but at least there is a one-strike policy on use of the N-word. TMZ posted video of Wallen using the slur around 9:15 this morning. Within three hours, Wallen’s career was all but over, at least until his redemption arc in two years. His record label suspended his contract (although, they have not terminated it yet); iHeartRadio and other radio stations pulled him from their rotations; CMT pulled all appearances from their platforms.

Wallen — who was also arrested for public intoxication last May at Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse — issued an apology, saying he was “embarrassed and sorry” and that he wishes he “could take it back.” It was not enough. Nor should it be. Wallen’s casual use of the word in the video strongly suggests that it is a commonly used word in his vocabulary. He used it exactly as many of the people with whom I went to grade school in the South, offhand and with complete indifference.

Wallen was named the New Artist of the Year at the 2020 CMA Awards.

Wallen’s behavior is disgusting and horrifying. I think this is an opportunity for the country music industry to give that spot to somebody who deserves it, and there are lots of black artists who deserve it. https://t.co/14B77zLgMR

— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) February 3, 2021

The news out of Nashville tonight does not represent country music.

— Kelsea Ballerini (@KelseaBallerini) February 3, 2021

It actually IS representative of our town because this isn’t his first “scuffle” and he just demolished a huge streaming record last month regardless. We all know it wasn’t his first time using that word. We keep them rich and protected at all costs with no recourse.

— MAREN MORRIS (@MarenMorris) February 3, 2021