Morgan Wallen, a country star on the rise, was recently suspended by Big Loud, his record label. Big Loud posted to numerous social media platforms this past Wednesday afternoon, saying, “In the wake of recent events, Big Loud Records has made the decision to suspend Morgan Wallen’s recording contract indefinitely.”
The decision to do so came after a recent video from TMZ this past Tuesday night, in which Wallen used the N-word while hanging out with a group of his friends.
It has also been confirmed that Wallen was pulled from radio playlists at iHeartMedia. iHeartMedia is one of the largest radio groups in the United States. They say that pulling Wallen’s music will have an impact on nearly 135 stations where the station rotates his music.
According to Variety, Cumulus Media, another large radio station group, sent an edict outlining the same thing to 400 of its radio stations. This past Wednesday afternoon, SiriusXM, the well-known satellite radio provider, as well as the streaming service Pandora, cut Wallen’s music from their catalogs, both of which were confirmed by company representatives.
Even CMT, arguably America’s most popular platform for country music, said that it would be removing all of Wallen’s appearances from its various platforms. The country music channel wrote in a recent tweet that, “We do not tolerate or condone words and actions that are in direct opposition to our core values that celebrate diversity, equity & inclusion.”
Ever since it debuted on January 8 this year, Dangerous: The Double Album, Wallen’s second album, has been a major hit. The album sat at the top of the Billboard 200 for almost three consecutive weeks. The last country album that had that kind of success, says Billboard, was Taylor Swift’s Red back in 2013.
Unfortunately for Wallen, this is not his first instance of controversy in recent times. This past October, Wallen was set to play on Saturday Night Live before the producers of the show disinvited him after a videotape leaked of him partying prior to his show appearance, breaking all of the safety protocols that were in place with COVID-19. However, he was finally able to appear on the show in December, all while joking around about the incident in a sketch while on the show.
Wallen recently apologized after TMZ posted the video, saying, “I’m embarrassed and sorry. 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. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.”
Now, Wallen’s sister, Ashlyne Wallen, is coming to the country singer’s defense. In her latest post on Instagram, she expressed her thoughts on cancel culture becoming “out of control.”
“There are only 3 things you should ever do about a mistake: admit it, learn from it, and don’t repeat it,’” Wallen’s sister’s post began. “Cancel culture is the worst thing that has come out of our digital world. It leaves no room for forgiveness and growth, in turn, leaving no opportunity for individuals who have made mistakes to learn from them,” says Ashlyne.
