Country star Morgan Wallen, 27, uses racial slur in video, says he is ’embarrassed and sorry’
Morgan Wallen #MorganWallen
Big Loud Records has announced it will “suspend” country star Morgan Wallen’s recording contract after the singer shouted a racial slur over the weekend.
“In the wake of recent events, Big Loud Records has made the decision to suspend Morgan Wallen’s recording contract indefinitely,” the label announced Wednesday.
According to the statement, Republic Records — partners with Big Loud on Wallen’s latest release, “Dangerous” — “fully supports Big Loud’s Decision and agrees such behavior will not be tolerated.”
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A video shows Morgan, 27, being dropped off at a house and telling a friend to “take care of this…(slur),” apparently referring to another person in the group.
“I’m embarrassed and sorry,” Wallen said in a statement after the video was posted Tuesday by 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.”
Wallen had not addressed the incident as of Wednesday morning on any of his social media channels.
Outside of Wallen’s circle, industry reaction was swift. A spokesperson for iHeartMedia — the largest radio owner in the U.S., with more than 800 stations — said they had removed Wallen’s music from rotation.
Both the Country Music Association and cable network CMT announced they would remove Wallen from all of their platforms. The Academy of Country Music pulled Wallen from eligibility for the 56th annual ACM Awards, set to take place in April.
“We do not tolerate or condone words and actions that are in direct opposition to our core values that celebrate diversity, equity & inclusion,” CMT tweeted.
Wallen is also conspicuously absent from Spotify’s premier country playlist, “Hot Country,” as well as Apple Music’s “Today’s Country” — despite currently having five of the top 10 songs on Billboard’s “Hot Country Songs” chart.
In the past year, Wallen became country music’s biggest new star. He’s topped the Billboard 200 Album chart for the past three weeks and was named New Artist of the Year at the CMA Awards.
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The year was marred by other incidents. Wallen was arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct outside of Kid Rock’s honky-tonk in downtown Nashville, and he was booted from performing on “SNL” after partying maskless with strangers in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (The show invited him back 2 months later.)
Mickey Guyton was among the country artists reacting to the news. The singer — who recently became the first Black female solo artist to receive a Grammy nomination in a country category — tweeted, “The hate runs deep.”
One prominent reaction came from singer-songwriter Jason Isbell, whose song “Cover Me Up” was recorded by Wallen and is included on his chart-topping album.
“Wallen’s behavior is disgusting and horrifying,” Isbell tweeted. “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.”
While other singers suggested that Wallen’s actions didn’t reflect Nashville and country music as a whole, Maren Morris countered, “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.”
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Morgan Wallen’s recording contract suspended; singer dropped from country radio after using racial slur