Country star Morgan Wallen is slowly getting back to work following his racist slur controversy in February, but he reportedly has not followed through with all of the efforts he said he would make to understand what he did wrong. Wallen, 28, pledged to meet with the NAACP chapter in Nashville following the incident, but its president told TMZ he never did. In February, Wallen was caught on video using the N-word as he and his friends walked back to his Nashville home on the night of Jan. 31. During the aftermath, Wallen’s music was banned from several radio stations and declared ineligible for awards.
On Saturday, NAACP Nashville president Sheryl Guinn told TMZ she reached out to Wallen about a meeting in February, and his representatives said the singer was interested in meeting to make amends. Both sides agreed to a meeting, which would have included other local Black leaders. They just needed to schedule the meeting. However, Guinn said Wallen’s team never reached out again to schedule the meeting. It never happened.
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Guinn did not pressure Wallen to meet her, but the chapter wanted to be available to Wallen after he publicly said he wanted to educate himself, she told TMZ. She hoped Wallen could be a supporter of Black equality and his fans would join him. A few days after Wallen’s video was published, he did release a lengthy apology, in which he mentioned accepting invitations from “some amazing Black organizations, executives, and leaders to engage in some real and honest conversations.” He did not specify which groups he planned on meeting with though.
Wallen returned to the stage on May 19, performing at Kid Rock’s bar in downtown Nashville. He performed his hits “Whiskey Glasses” and “Wasted on You” during the impromptu performance. It came days after Big Loud and Republic Records/Universal Music Group announced it was lifting Wallen’s suspension after four months. Big Loud never announced Wallen’s reinstatement, but he was quietly added back to the list of artists on its website.
Although Wallen’s controversy meant his music could not be heard on country music radio, his sales boomed afterward. His second studio album, Dangerous: The Double Album, spent seven weeks at the top of Billboard‘s album chart, with some of those weeks coming after the scandal broke. The album’s success means Wallen qualified for six Billboard Music Awards, but he was banned from participating in Sunday’s show.
Wallen will be eligible for some of the major CMA Awards this fall, including Single, Song, Album, Musical Event, and Music Video of the Year so his collaborators will get a shot at awards. However, he will be ineligible for the big solo awards, including Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year. Wallen will still be ineligible for June’s CMT Music Awards.
In April, Wallen told fans he would not perform at festivals or concerts this summer, which means he would no longer be Luke Bryan’s opener during Bryan’s summer tour. “I wanted to let you guys know that…[I] feel like I’ve really worked on myself. I’m proud of the work I’ve put in, and in many ways thankful to have had the time to do it. I will always strive to be better,” Wallen wrote to fans. “Not only has this time revealed to me the ways in which I want to improve, but it’s also reminded me that I am still very proud of who I am and the man I am becoming.”
