Saturday, February 6, 2021
On Wednesday, US country music artist Morgan Wallen was suspended from his recording contract by Big Loud Records indefinitely after he used the racial slur “nigger” in video leaked by TMZ. Wallen stated to TMZ, “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 apologise for using the word. I promise to do better.”
Republic Records, which also distributed Wallen’s music, stood by Big Loud’s decision, saying “such behavior will not be tolerated”. This decision followed the removal of Wallen’s music from some radio stations, including the largest radio station group in the United States, iHeartMedia. On Wednesday Morgan Wallen’s newly released album, entitled Dangerous: The Double Album, was at number 1 on the Billboard 200, having been at the number 1 position for three weeks.
Wallen also faced trouble on streaming services such as Spotify. On Wednesday, while his music remained available for streaming there, his songs were apparently removed from some official Spotify playlists, such as their 50 top Hot Country Songs playlist, as well as some of Apple Music’s country playlists.