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| Nashville Tennessean
Big Loud Records has announced that it will “suspend” the recording contract of country star Morgan Wallen, after the singer shouted a racial insult over the weekend.
“Following recent events, Big Loud Records has made the decision to indefinitely suspend Morgan Wallen’s recording contract”, the label announced on Wednesday.
According to the statement, Republic Records – Big Loud’s partner on Wallen’s latest release, “Dangerous” – “fully supports Big Loud’s decision and agrees that such behavior will not be tolerated.”
Video shows Morgan, 27, being dropped off at a house and telling a friend to “take care of this … (insult)”, apparently referring to someone else in the group.
“I’m embarrassed and sorry,” Wallen said in a statement after TMZ posted the video Tuesday. “I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are never any excuses for using that kind of language. I want to sincerely apologize for using that word. I promise. to do better. “
Wallen had not addressed the incident Wednesday morning on any of his social media channels. Comments were limited on Wallen and Big Loud’s Instagram accounts.
Industry outside of Wallen’s circle has responded swiftly. A spokesperson for iHeartMedia – the largest radio owner in the United States, with more than 800 stations – said they had removed Wallen’s music from the rotation.
He’s also noticeably absent from Spotify’s first country playlist, “Hot Country,” as well as Apple Music’s “Today’s Country” – although he currently has five of the top 10 songs on the “Hot Country Songs” chart. from Billboard.
The cable network CMT also announced that it would remove “Wallen appearances on all our platforms”.
“We do not condone or condone words and actions that are in direct opposition to our core values which celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Last year Wallen became the biggest new star in country music. He has topped the Billboard 200 album chart for the past three weeks and was named New Artist of the Year at the CMA Awards.
RELATED: Morgan Wallen’s ‘SNL’ sketch pokes fun at party scandal
The year was marked by other incidents. Wallen was arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct outside Kid Rock’s honky-tonk in downtown Nashville, and was barred from performing on “SNL” after partying without a mask with strangers in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (the show invited him back 2 months later).
Mickey Guyton was among the country artists who responded to the news. The singer – who recently became the first black solo artist to receive a Grammy nomination in a country category – tweeted, “The hatred runs deep.”
A big reaction came from singer-songwriter Jason Isbell, whose song “Cover Me Up” was recorded by Wallen and is included on his chart-topping album.
“Wallen’s behavior is disgusting and horrible,” Isbell tweeted. “I think this is an opportunity for the country music industry to give this place to someone who deserves it, and there are a lot of black artists who deserve it.”
While other singers have suggested that Wallen’s actions do not reflect Nashville and country music as a whole, Maren Morris countered, “He’s actually a representative of our city because it’s not his first. ‘brawl’ and he just demolished a huge streaming record last. No matter what month. We all know it wasn’t the first time he used that word. We keep them rich and protected at all costs without recourse. “
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