UPDATE (11:39 AM CST, Feb. 03, 2021): Country star Morgan Wallen has had his contract “suspended indefinitely” by his label, Big Loud Records, the company announced Wednesday.
“In the wake of recent events, Big Loud Records has made the decision to suspend Morgan Wallen’s contract indefinitely,” the statement reads. Republic Records, the Universal Music-owned label that distributes his recordings, “fully supports Big Loud’s decision and agrees such behavior will not be tolerated.” What exactly that will mean is not entirely clear, as “suspended” contracts are not common in the music industry.
On Tuesday (Feb. 2, 2021), TMZ posted a video recorded over the weekend of country singer and all-around awful person Morgan Wallen yelling expletives, including the N-word. Happy Black History Month from Morgan Wallen.
Morgan Wallen returned home Sunday (Jan 31, 2021) from a rowdy night with friends, one of the neighbors began recording what was going down
As Morgan appears to stumble toward his house, he tells someone to watch over a guy in his group. He says … “take care of” this “pussy ass motherfucker” — and then goes on to say, “take care of this pussy ass n*****” … before finally heading in.
That right there is all you need to know about Morgan Wallen.
The country star offered a lame apology to TMZ for his words in the video.
“I’m embarrassed and sorry,” Wallen told 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.”
Per Variety, his music was yanked from Cumulus Media, the second-biggest radio chain in the nation, as of midnight CT after a storm broke out over his being captured on video using a racial slur.
Cumulus, which is especially powerful in the country radio sphere, sent out a directive to the program directors of all of its 400-plus stations with the header “MORGAN WALLEN — EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.” The message read: “Team, unfortunately country music star Morgan Wallen was captured on video Sunday evening using a racial slur. Effective immediately we request that all of Morgan Wallen’s music be removed from our playlists without exception. More to follow.”
Mickey Guyton was among the first to blast the chart-topping Wallen, She quickly responded to TMZ’s tweet sharing their story — the outlet posted the video of Wallen using the slur and received his subsequent apology.
“The hate runs deep smh,” wrote Guyton. Then, replying to her own tweet, she continued, “This is not his first time using that ‘unacceptable’ racial slur and we all known that.”
Then, seemingly calling on the country music industry itself, Guyton continued, “So what exactly are y’all going to do about it? Crickets won’t work this time.”
The hate runs deep. Smfh https://t.co/VIf4b0bKud
— Mickey Guyton (@MickeyGuyton) February 3, 2021
Maren Morris agreed that there is no way this was Wallen’s first time using the slur, and seemingly shot down arguments that his behavior is not an accurate representation of the Nashville culture.
Kelsea Ballerini tweeted that sentiment, writing, “The news out of Nashville does not represent country music.” Fans were quick to correct her, saying that it absolutely does.
“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,” Morris said, noting that his prior behaviors have not impacted his sales success at all.
“We all know it wasn’t his first time using that word. We keep them rich and protected at all costs with no recourse.”
