Darius Rucker is urging people to forgive Morgan Wallen for his past use of racial epithets.
The 58-year-old musical artist chat with the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast on Tuesday about the fallout of the 2021 scandal, in which Wallen, 31, was caught on a neighbor’s camera using a racial slur in a clip published on TMZ.
The Hootie & the Blowfish vocalist on Tuesday said that he feels ‘Morgan’s become a better person since that’ and has demonstrated growth as a person over the past three-plus years since the incident.
‘I’ve known Morgan a long time,’ the Charleston, South Carolina native said. ‘Since all that happened, Morgan’s tried to really better himself and become a better person and see the world in a much better, better way.’
Wallen faced immediate professional consequences in the wake of the 2021 incident, as his Big Loud Records record contract was suspended, while music industry organizations such as CMT, iHeart Media, SiriusXM and Pandora distanced themselves from the musical artist and his material in the timeframe that followed.
Darius Rucker, 58, is urging people to forgive Morgan Wallen, 31, for his past use of racial epithets. Rucker was pictured last month in NYC appearing on the Fox Business Network
Wallen has slowly rebuilt his career in the wake of the incident, as he made his first major public appearance at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards where he was presented with the honors for Top Country Male Artist.
At the May 2022 ceremony, Wallen received an endorsement from host Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who said he hoped to use the occasion to begin ‘un-canceling the canceled.’ (Combs himself has found himself enmeshed in a career crisis in recent months following a series of lawsuits, raids on his property by law enforcement, and the surfacing of a video in which he violently assaulted his ex-girlfriend Cassie.)
Wallen’s hit record Dangerous: The Double Album went on to capture the Album of the Year honors at the Academy of Country Music Awards in March of 2022.
Rucker – whose hits include Hold My Hand, Only Wanna Be with You and Let Her Cry – told Rolling Stone he believes that Wallen is ‘not forgiven’ by the music industry over the 2021 incident despite a number of commercial and critical successes.
Rucker, a three-time Grammy-winner who has reinvented himself as a country singer in recent years, pointed out that Wallen is ‘still not out for CMAs and ACMs’ amid the fallout of the racial epithet scandal.
‘They can say what they want, but the fact that Morgan Wallen is not up for Entertainer of the Year and those things is crazy,’ Rucker said. (Wallen in April was announced as an Entertainer of the Year nominee, with Lainey Wilson winning the honors.)
Rucker – who is father to three children: daughter Carolyn, 29, with ex Elizabeth Ann Phillips; daughter Daniella, 23, and son Jack, 19, with ex-wife Beth – pointed out that Wallen has continued to be successful commercially, noting that ‘no one’s selling more tickets than Morgan.’
In an online clip released in the wake of the 2021 video circulating, Wallen was contrite about his actions and said he hoped his mistakes could be a lesson to other people.
Rucker, a three-time Grammy-winner who has reinvented himself as a country singer in recent years, said Wallen is ‘still not out for CMAs and ACMs’ amid the fallout of the 2021 scandal. Pictured in June in Nashville
Wallen was arrested this past April in Nashville after he was accused of tossing a chair from the top of a six-story bar. Pictured in May in Nashville
‘The video you saw was me on hour 72 of a bender and that’s not something I’m proud of either,’ said Wallen, who would have a stint in a rehabilitation facility following circulation of the clip.
He added: ‘Our actions matter. Our words matter. And I want to encourage anyone that is watching to please learn from my mistake. There’s no reason to downplay what I did.’
Wallen was arrested this past April in Nashville after he was accused of tossing a chair from the top of a six-story establishment named Chief’s Bar.
He was subsequently three felony counts of reckless endangerment and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
‘I didn’t feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks,’ Wallen said on social media in the wake of the arrest. ‘I’ve touched base with Nashville law enforcement, my family, and the good people at Chief’s. I’m not proud of my behavior, and I accept responsibility.’
