Morgan Wallen was all smiles in his most recent mugshot, taken after he was arrested for allegedly throwing a chair off a rooftop bar in Nashville, six stories above busy Broadway Street. The chair landed a few feet away from a group of police officers standing near the entrance of the venue.
It’s not clear why he threw the chair, especially considering TMZ obtained these photos which show him having a conversation with a woman just moments before it happened. Eyewitnesses told TMZ he appeared intoxicated and seemed to be flirting with the woman, but there’s no definitive answer on why he may have flung the chair.
So far, some of the speculation has been on the timing of it all. Morgan’s chair toss happened on the heels of KT Smith, his ex and the mother of his child, eloping with her new partner days after the pair got engaged. She offered this comment to The Daily Beast about Morgan’s most recent debacle:
“Although it may seem like it correlates because of the timeline, I have no evidence to believe the incident had anything to do with the recent marriage announcement. I cannot speak on Morgan’s behalf, but I do pray the very best for him. Praying that this was just a slip up and that he will return to the good path that he was on prior.”
While it’s both clear and very understandable that she wants to be exempt from conversations surrounding Morgan’s latest arrest, and enjoy her newlywed bliss instead, it’s really anyone’s guess what she means when she suggests he “return to the good path he was on”. Morgan’s name has been tied to a string of controversies in recent years, the timeline for which includes arrests, disorderly conduct, partying and making out with people at the height of the pandemic without a mask despite a state-wide mask and social distancing mandate, and of course, getting caught saying the n-word back in 2021.
Despite a brief stint with having his music pulled and appearances being cancelled, just over a year after the racial slur incident, he was back at the Billboard Awards, not only performing two of his hits, but snagging the award for top country male artist – and of course, getting “uncancelled” by none other than Diddy himself, which Sarah wrote about here.
"Love does not rock like that. I’m here to forgive, to unify, to celebrate, and to have everybody be free,” Diddy said at the time, which really didn’t age well considering all of his current legal troubles and allegations of sex trafficking – more on that here.
While fans of Morgan may not be of the same magnitude as Rihanna’s Navy, the Selenators, the Swifties or the Beyhive, they have been proven to stick with him through thick and thin. And they were even rewarded for their undying devotion to him when they were named the winners of a “Hot Country Fan Base” put on by Taste of Country in 2022, beating out the fanbases of other country stars like Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, and Kane Brown.
Why this unrelenting devotion from his fans and the country music industry in support of a man who displays such rageful and dangerous behaviours while under the influence of alcohol and has racist tendencies but has managed to maintain the level of respect that he has, while someone like Beyoncé faces such stark opposition to her (wildly successful) celebration of country music?
If we’re being real here, a white woman with half of Beyoncé’s accolades would easily earn the respect of fans and other country artists alike. A working mother and devoted wife who, despite immeasurable fame, does a really good job of avoiding controversy and public debacles? She’s almost everything Reba sang about in the theme song to her self-titled show. But…she’s Black. And that’s enough to make it difficult to win some white country fans over, even if you’re Beyoncé.
Personally, I think Morgan is the conduit to help country fans deal with a lot of the rage they’re experiencing because of the success Beyoncé is having, and by extension, the success that other Black country artists are experiencing, too. Despite a lack of support from country music stations that have been very loud about their refusal to play her music, she still became the first Black woman in history to top the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. And she’s undeniably lifted the presence of Black artists within the genre, forcing others in the industry to take notice.
Tanner Adell experienced a 188% lift in streaming activity over a few days in February. Reyna Roberts got around 200,000 official on-demand streams between February 16-19, which means a 250% increase from her 57,000 streams in the days prior. And even R&B star K. Michelle, who released a few standalone country songs ahead of her country album received three times the amount of streams the week of the Super Bowl, compared to the week before. And not only is Beyoncé’s industry break-in great for musicians, it’s great for Black country fans, too.
Last year, I wrote about how difficult it was for me as a Black fan of country music to grapple with the racism, the monotony and the lack of diversity in the musical acts, despite the rich history and Black presence in the music’s origins. It’s always been difficult for me to see myself reflected in everything from the artists to the award shows to the performances to the subject matter. But with Beyoncé and so many others taking up more space within the genre, the inability to connect to the music and artists is dissipating, but not without issue. And with someone like Beyoncé speaking about the hurdles she has and is facing, she is naming and shaming. Shortly before the release of Cowboy Carter, she spoke about her 2016 Country Music Awards performance, which, at the time, sparked outrage and harsh backlash online.
“Because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive,” she said on Instagram. “The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me.”
In the same way that white country artists are reckoning with the fact that they are now up against the likes of Beyoncé, who has proven to us all that her capabilities are anything but genre-specific, white country fans are also having to reckon with the reality that they now have to share the space with the very people Morgan refers to derogatorily. Of course they’re clinging to him. And cling as they might, it doesn’t change the fact that in the same way that Black country artists are having their moment, Black country fans are having their moment, too.
