Morgan Wallen has announced that he’s cancelling his tour to work on himself, which might be a very bright idea indeed.
Wallen (it’s mental to think that he started on the The Voice of all places) and his shaggy mullet might look like he should be playing for the Bulldogs instead of singing but he’s been one of the biggest country stars for a few years now.
And what a, um, noteworthy few years they’ve been. Last May, he was arrested for disorderly conduct after an incident at Kid Rock’s steakhouse in Nashville. Wallen was then due to appear as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live in October but was dropped after footage emerged showing him not adhering to COVID-19 protocols.
In February, video evidence surfaced of Wallen using a racial slur. After that last one, the singer was suspended from his record label and his music was removed from several major radio networks in the U.S..
Those were some welcome consequences for a seemingly untouchable star. For SNL were all too happy to invite Wallen back on their show in December where he appeared in a sketch making light of the COVID-19 protocol incident; despite the high controversy surrounding the use of the racial slur, Wallen’s music experienced a surge in commercial success following it. Those pesky untouchable celebrities, eh?
Yet it looks like Wallen is trying to make some much-needed changes at least. After several previous apologies, he’s now posted a handwritten note to fans on his Instagram, as per Stereogum.
At the end of the letter, Wallen announced that he’s taking some extra time off to work on himself and his personal growth, which means that he won’t be touring over the summer as planned.
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“I’ve found this time away to be very valuable to me in many ways, but I feel like I need a little more of it, and therefore I will not be performing tour dates this summer,” he wrote. “It means I won’t be playing festivals or the Luke Bryan tour dates. But it’s important to me personally, if you can, still go to these shows and support country music. Country music is back and that’s a beautiful damn thing.”
For more on this topic, head over to the Country Music Observer.