The Morgan Wallen Conundrum
The New York Times
The country superstar had the biggest album of 2021 despite being captured on video using a racial slur. Is he on a redemption tour, or just on tour?
The country superstar Morgan Wallen took the stage at the Grand Ole Opry earlier this month, joining his longtime collaborator Ernest for a performance of their new single “Flower Shops,” and the fallout was swift. Black country performers and advocates spoke out against the Opry, widely perceived as hallowed ground in the genre, for giving a platform to Wallen, who nearly a year ago was caught on tape using a racial epithet.
A few days later, Wallen stepped on another stage in Nashville, joining the rapper Lil Durk at Bridgestone Arena for a performance of their new single “Broadway Girls” at a hip-hop event called MLK Freedom Fest. Durk introduced Wallen as someone who was “genuine at heart.” Blowback, if there was any, was muted.
Wallen, who retreated from the spotlight in 2021 after his rebuke by the music business, has been inching back toward it in recent months, via multiple twisted and potholed roads. He is simultaneously, depending on the lens, a hero or a scourge, an upholder of racist hierarchies or someone who works across racial lines, on a rehabilitation tour or just simply on tour, the most dominant musician of 2021 or the most reviled.
