Country star Morgan Wallen found himself in hot water earlier this week after footage leaked of him saying a racial slur.
The 27-year-old rising star was filmed by a neighbour on Sunday night, causing a ruckus with his group of friends. Within the video, Wallen can be heard shouting phrases like “Take care of this piss ass motherfucker,” before uttering the N-slur.
Following the leaked tape, obtained by TMZ, Wallen issued an apology. “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,” he wrote. “I want to sincerely apologise for using the word. I promise to do better.”
In the aftermath of the controversy, a number of the leading streaming services have pulled Wallen’s music from curated playlists.
As music data analytics firm Cartmetric reports, Spotify removed Wallen from at least 14 playlists; including the Hot Country playlist, which has 6.239 million followers, and the Pop Rising playlist with 2.04 million. Wallen’s singles ‘Still Going Down’ and ‘Somebody’s Problem’ were both featured on the Hot Country playlist — which, as Billboard notes, was his main source of discovery on Spotify.
Apple Music has also scrapped Wallen from at least 21 playlists, including Today’s Country and A-List Pop. Playlist that featured both Wallen’s chart-dominating singles, as well as deep cuts from his recent album Dangerous.
Amazon Music and Pandora has also pulled Wallen’s music from playlists.
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In addition to his music being pulled from streaming playlists, the Academy of Country Awards telecast has announced that the controversial star has been disqualified from competing in the awards.
“The Academy of Country Music will halt Morgan Wallen’s potential involvement and eligibility for this year’s 56th Academy of Country Music Awards cycle,” the ACM said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “We have made his management team aware of this decision.”
“The Academy does not condone or support intolerance or behavior that doesn’t align with our commitment and dedication to diversity and inclusion,” the statement continued.
“In the coming weeks, the Academy will expedite the offering of long-planned diversity training resources for our ACM Membership, Board, Staff and the Country Music artist community, made available through our Diversity + Inclusion Task Force, established in 2018. As a result of this unprecedented situation, the Academy will be reviewing our awards eligibility and submission process, ensuring our nominees consistently reflect the Academy’s integrity.”
— ACM Awards (@ACMawards) February 3, 2021
Wallen’s label, Big Loud Records, also announced that they would be suspending Wallen’s recording contract “indefinitely.”
“In the wake of recent events, Big Loud Records has made the decision to suspend Morgan Wallen’s recording contract indefinitely,” the company tweeted. “Republic Records fully supports Big Loud’s decision and agrees such behavior will not be tolerated.”
— Big Loud (@BigLoud) February 3, 2021
Wallen’s downfall from grace has been astonishing to witness. In 2019 he was named the Country Music Assn.’s new artist of the year in 2019, and his record Dangerous: The Double Album, has topped the Billboard 200 for the past three weeks.
