Who remembers the 2021 scandal when the “Last Night” singer was filmed saying a racist slur?
In February 2021, TMZ released a video of Morgan Wallen, who was 30 years old at the time, arriving home after an apparent night of partying. In the footage, Wallen was shouting to his friends, instructing them to “take care of” another friend.
“Take care of this p—y-ass motherf–ker…. Take care of this p—y-ass n—–.”
According to TMZ, Wallen apologized by 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.”
He also uploaded an apology video on his YouTube channel, sharing how wrong he was. He said, “It’s on me to take ownership of this and I fully accept the penalties I’m facing.”
Due to the scandal, his music got temporarily removed from many radio and streaming platforms, his recording contract got put on hold, and he got pulled out of appearances at events like the CMT and CMA Awards, plus the AMAs, ACM, and Billboard Music Awards.
Three Years Later…
Looking back, Morgan Wallen said in a recent Billboard interview that the incident made him realize “how much my words matter.”
He understood the public’s reaction to his choice of words in the video because he, too, was disappointed in himself for using them. However, he found it really disheartening that many were quick to label him as a racist.
In the interview he said, “I’ve talked to a lot of people, heard stories [about] things that I would have never thought about because I wasn’t the one going through it. And I think, for me, in my heart I was never that guy that people were portraying me to be, so there was a little bit of like, ‘Damn, I’m kind of actually mad about this a little bit because I know I shouldn’t have said this, but I’m really not that guy.’
“If I was that guy, then I wouldn’t have cared. I wouldn’t have apologized. I wouldn’t have done any of that if I really was that guy that people were saying about me.”
Since the controversy, he has took the time to “learn and try to be better.”
Morgan Wallen also said in the interview, “That person is definitely not the same person I am now.”