Ryan Upchurch Wears Tasteless Shirt to Support Morgan Wallen

Country music rapper Ryan Upchurch showed his support for Morgan Wallen by wearing a tasteless shirt with a racist slur on it. Upchurch wore a shirt with Wallen’s image, reading “My n— Wallen Morgan.” Wallen was caught using the n-word on video earlier this year, leading to Wallen’s music being pulled from country radio and him being deemed ineligible for awards. However, in recent weeks, Wallen has been welcomed back, with his music returning to radio stations and him even performing alongside Luke Bryan.

“On my last rap a lot of people thought I was mad at Morgan, nawwww he cool,” Upchurch, 30, wrote on Instagram, adding the hashtag “cancel deez nuts.” He also tagged the person who sent him the shirt, which is available on Etsy for $25. The rap Upchurch’s caption is a reference to his latest track, “Look At These Dudes,” in which he raps, “I ain’t sorry for bein’ that honky… When y’all faker than Morgan Wallen’s apology.”

Wallen has been a controversial figure in the country music world since February, when TMZ published a Jan. 31 video showing the 28-year-old walking back to his Nashville home and could be heard using the n-word. The “Whiskey Glasses” singer shared multiple apologies, including one in which he claimed he would meet with Black organizations and leaders to “engage in some real and honest conversations.” The NAACP Nashville chapter later told TMZ it did reach out to Wallen by never heard back.

Part of the fallout from the scandal included several major radio networks banning Wallen’s music from their stations. However, by August, his music has returned to country radio stations. “Sand in My Boots,” which is featured on his Dangerous: The Double Album, has been played on the radio recently, Billboard reported. In July, Bryan invited Wallen to perform “Whiskey Glasses” and “More Than My Hometown” during a show at Bridgestone Arena in July. Wallen also performed “She’s Country” with Jason Aldean during the show.

Days before his performance with Bryan, Wallen appeared on Good Morning America to give his first televised interview. He told Michael Strahan that he and his friends “say dumb stuff together” and that “in our minds, it’s playful.” Wallen noted, “That sounds ignorant, but it — that’s really where it came from … and it’s wrong.” He insisted that he does not use the n-word “frequently” and did not mean to say it in any “derogatory” manner. Wallen told Strahan he was “just ignorant” about the word, adding. “I don’t think I sat down and was, like, ‘Hey, is this right or is this wrong?’”

The controversy later inspired Luke Combs to apologize for using the Confederate flag in his 2015 music video “Can I Get An Outlaw” with Upchurch. The rapper then called out Combs and other country singers for apologizing. “Y’all country singers need to quit being f—ing sissies, I mean dude, one person does something wrong that they shouldn’t have done and now all of y’all are bowing down ‘I’m sorry,’ you didn’t do nothing, what are you sorry for?” Upchurch wrote on his Instagram Story in February. Upchurch also posted a video on YouTube called “My Apology,” in which he accused Combs of apologizing because his record label pushed him to.