By Wonderwall.com Editors
7:00pm PST, Dec 9, 2023
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Country music star Morgan Wallen says he's learned his "words matter" nearly three years after his use of a racial slur was caught on camera and published by TMZ. The fallout almost derailed his career as his radio stations yanked his music, award shows nixed his eligibility, his agent dropped him and his record label suspended him indefinitely.
"That person is definitely not the same person I am now," says the singer in a December 2023 Billboard cover story, his first major interview since the controversial video surfaced in February 2021.
At the time, he apologized for using the N-word and said he'd been drunk when the footage was filmed. His team later announced he'd be meeting with Black artists and thought leaders in an effort to better understand his offense.
Looking back, he says "there's no excuse" for using a racial slur. Yet he also insists he was "never that guy that people were portraying me to be."
Keep reading for more details …
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"There's no excuse. I've never made an excuse. I never will make an excuse," Morgan Wallen, whose popularity and music sales have surged in the years since the scandal, told Billboard in December 2023.
"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," the 30-year-old continued. "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.'"
To be fair, the racial slur wasn't Morgan's first brush with backlash. When he ignored COVID-19 safety measures in 2020, he was axed from a planned slot on "Saturday Night Live" and criticized by social media users and in the press. That same year, the singer was also was arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct. But he told Billboard he hadn't realized "just how much that people listen to me" until the backlash over TMZ's video surfaced.
MORE: Country music's biggest scandals
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"I put myself in just such a s*** spot, you know? Like, 'You really messed up here, guy,'" Morgan Wallen told Billboard in December 2023.
At the the same time, he did get angry "that so few gave him the benefit of the doubt and rushed to brand him a full-blown racist" after the 2021 incident.
"If I was that guy, then I wouldn't have cared. I wouldn't have apologized," he said. "I wouldn't have done any of that if I really was that guy that people were saying about me."
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After TMZ published the video showing Morgan Wallen drunkenly using the N-word outside his house in 2021, the webloid posted an apology from the singer.
"I'm embarrassed and sorry. I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back," the statement read. "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."
According to Billboard, he went on to meet with Black leaders in the music community, including gospel artist Bebe Winans, members of the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) and music execs including Elektra CEO Kevin Liles and Universal Music Group Executive Vice President Eric Hutcherson.
Morgan's goal, he told the outlet, was "to learn and try to be better."
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Billboard reported that as of February 2022, the Morgan Wallen Foundation and his label, Big Loud, "had donated $500,000 to organizations including The National Museum of African American Music, Rock Against Racism and the BMAC."
The singer's foundation has also reportedly made sizable donations to underserved communities via Habitat for Humanity and other organizations.
His apparent interest in social philanthropy, however, doesn't mean he'll speak out about politics anytime soon. Asked if he'd publicly support any candidate in the 2024 presidential race, Morgan told Billboard, "No. That's not where my head's at. I'm not an expert. I just don't know enough to try to guide people. I know what I know, and that's music."
