Morgan Wallen Breaks Silence on Racism Scandal

For the first time since 2021, Morgan Wallen has spoken publicly about the racism scandal he was embroiled in that temporarily damaged his career.

The 30-year-old American country music singer and songwriter competed in the sixth season of The Voice and has gone on to have huge success, with sold-out tours and a variety of Hot 100 hits.

However, a shadow was cast over him in February 2021 when a neighbor gave TMZ video footage of a drunk Wallen casually using a racial slur while walking into his house after a night out. While TMZ published an apology from Wallen, the reaction was swift and severe. His songs were removed from radio, he was fired by his booking agency, he was disqualified from award events, and his own label suspended him.

However, in the week following the controversy, sales of his album Dangerous surged. He remained atop the Billboard charts for seven more weeks and his song, "If I Know Me", entered the top 10 for the first time.

Now almost three years later, the Last Night hitmaker is finally talking about the events that transpired in 2021.

Newsweek reached out to Wallen via Instagram for comment on Thursday.

"There's no excuse. I've never made an excuse. I never will make an excuse," Wallen said of the racial slur to Billboard. "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.'

"I put myself in just such a s*** spot, you know? Like, 'You really messed up here, 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."

In a statement to TMZ at the time, he said he was "embarrassed and sorry" about the incident, before adding: "'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."

After the video made the rounds, Wallen met with several Black leaders in an effort to educate himself, including 300 Elektra Entertainment chairman/CEO Kevin Liles and Grammy-winning gospel artist BeBe Winans. He also had conversations with the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) and other groups in an effort "to learn and try to be better." Wallen told Billboard that following the incident, he did a 30-day stint in rehab in San Diego.

Wallen said the experience in 2021 showed him "just how much that people listen to me" and said he's learned how much his words matter. He added: "That person is definitely not the same person I am now."

The incident wasn't the first time Wallen's behavior raised flags. After a disturbance at Kid Rock's Nashville club in May 2020, he was arrested for public intoxication and disorderly behavior. Five months later, Saturday Night Live withdrew its invitation for him to perform because he had broken the show's COVID-19 safety regulations. Two months later, he appeared on the show.

Since those incidents, Wallen's reputation has largely recovered and he's experienced tremendous success on the music charts with his latest album One Thing at a Time.

This year he was the biggest winner at the Billboard Music Awards, which are based on year-end performance metrics on the Billboard charts. The singer-songwriter won 11 trophies, including top male artist, top Hot 100 artist and top country artist, as well as top Hot 100 song for "Last Night" and top Billboard 200 album for One Thing at a Time.