Morgan Wallen suspended by record label after using racial slur

IN one of the swiftest downfalls for a country star in modern history, Morgan Wallen was suspended indefinitely by his record label and removed from hundreds of radio stations across the country Wednesday after he was captured on camera saying the n-word.

Cumulus Media and iHeartMedia, the country’s top two radio conglomerates, pulled his music effective immediately, as did several other companies such as SiriusXM (which owns the streaming service Pandora). CMT stopped playing his music on all television and digital platforms; the Country Music Association took similar action. Cumulus was the first chain to react to the incident, sending a message to its program directors shortly after TMZ posted a video Tuesday night that showed Wallen loudly returning home with friends this past weekend. A neighbour, apparently annoyed by the racket, started filming the scene and caught Wallen using the racial slur.

Wallen released an apology Tuesday to TMZ: “I’m embarrassed and sorry. 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.”

Big Loud, his independent label in Nashville, said Wednesday in a statement that they made the decision to suspend him “in the wake of recent events.” It added that Republic Records, the Universal Music Group-owned major label partner who also promotes Wallen, “fully supports Big Loud’s decision and agrees such behaviour will not be tolerated.”

The fallout is a shockingly abrupt pivot for the industry, which has turned Wallen, 27, into one of Nashville’s most profitable hitmakers over the last several years. He has had an enormous amount of media attention, including a profile in The Washington Post. His latest album has been No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart for the last three weeks. He’s had sold-out tours, a string of hit radio singles and has shattered streaming records for country music. (Variety reported that Apple Music took him off its homepage, and Spotify removed him from its top country songs playlist.)

His removal from radio, known as the defining way to become a star in country music, is especially unprecedented: The last time a top-selling country act was pulled from the platform this quickly across the board was in 2003, when the Chicks (then known as the Dixie Chicks) were punished for criticizing President George W. Bush.