It's been nearly three years since video of Morgan Wallen using a racial slur went viral on the internet. Since then, the country music star has been simultaneously canceled and uplifted by the court of public opinion; exiled from much of the music community while championed by his loyal fanbase.
For his first major interview in two years, Wallen is reflecting on the consequences he faced and his displeasure of cancel culture. He also admitted to being angry over how quick the world was to label him a racist.
"There’s no excuse. I’ve never made an excuse. I never will make an excuse," Wallen told Billboard. "I’ve talked to a lot of people, heard stories [about] things that I would have never thought about because I wasn’t the one going through it. And I think, for me, in my heart I was never that guy that people were portraying me to be, so there was a little bit of like, ‘Damn, I’m kind of actually mad about this a little bit because I know I shouldn’t have said this, but I’m really not that guy.’"
MORGAN WALLEN'S MUSIC REMOVED FROM IHEARTRADIO, LABEL SUSPENDS HIM AMID RACIAL SLUR SCANDAL
"I put myself in just such a s--- spot, you know? Like, ‘You really messed up here, guy.’ If I was that guy, then I wouldn’t have cared. I wouldn’t have apologized. I wouldn’t have done any of that if I really was that guy that people were saying about me," the "Last Night" singer says of rectifying his mistake.
In 2021, TMZ released video of Wallen using the N-word. He was met with immediate backlash, having his music taken off the radio and being suspended from his record label. "That person is definitely not the same person I am now," he says of the man in the video. Months after the incident happened, Wallen shared on "Good Morning America" that he and his friends were clearly drunk when he uttered the slur.
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Following the scandal, Wallen checked himself into rehab. He also spoke with Black leaders and pledged $500,000 to Black-affiliated groups, which he ultimately fulfilled. A large portion of that money went to the Black Music Action Coalition. Wallen donated $300,000 on behalf of 20 individuals who counseled him through the trying period. According to USA Today, those 20 people were given the choice to keep the money in the BMAC or donate their portion to a charity of their choosing.
Despite the scrutiny, sales of Wallen's music actually increased.
Of the experience, Wallen says he realized "just how much that people listen" to him. "I don’t think I realized that, at least not at that grand of a scale at the time," he added. "I [learned] how much my words matter."
Now more than ever, Wallen is resonating with the greater country music community. "When I started doing this, I had no intentions or expectations of becoming that guy," he says of being a champion of this new wave of country music. "Especially when people say to me that they never liked country music before and now it’s [their] favorite."
"I obviously have brought some of my own flavor into the space and everybody doesn’t necessarily like that, and I don’t care because I love it," he said. "I love being able to incorporate all the types of music that I like. If I had to sing one kind of song for two hours, I’d lose my mind."
Wallen is currently on hiatus from his "One Night At A Time" tour, which will resume in 2024.
