Morgan Wallen wins big at ACMs after N-word scandal

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After being banned from the show in 2021 for saying the N-word, country superstar Morgan Wallen won Album of the Year for at the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards on Monday night.

“When I started this album, I was a kid. By the time I put it out, I was a father,” Wallen said in his acceptance speech. “That’s become more important to me than anything else. To my son, this album and this award will signify that his daddy was a fighter, and he chased his dreams and worked hard to make them a reality.”

Wallen, who came under fire for using the N-word in a video leaked by TMZ in early 2021, was banned from multiple music award shows last year and was suspended by his record label. Some radio stations also stopped playing his music.

A week after TMZ shared the video, Wallen posted an apology on YouTube in which he said that he was “on hour 72 of a 72-hour bender” when he used the slur.

“I let so many people down … I’m not OK with that. My words matter and that word can truly hurt a person. And at my core, that’s not what I’m OK with. I’ve got many more things to learn but I already know that I don’t want to add to any division. Our actions matter, our words matter, and I just want to encourage anyone watching to please learn from my mistakes. There is no reason to downplay what I did. It matters.”

Last summer, Wallen addressed the incident during an appearance on Good Morning America.

“It would seem that way,” the Whiskey Glasses singer responded when host Michael Strahan asked him whether he thought there was a race problem in country music. “I haven’t really sat and thought about that.”

But Wallen told Strahan that the incident did prompt some introspection.

“For 30 days, I spent some time out in San Diego, California, you know, just trying to figure it out … Why am I acting this way? Do I have an alcohol problem?” he said. “Do I have a deeper issue?”

His album, Dangerous, was one of 2021’s biggest-selling records and Wallen recently launched an arena tour that included two sold-out nights at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

In his acceptance speech at the ACMs Monday night, Wallen, who beat out Carly Pearce’s 29: Written in Stone, Thomas Rhett’s Country Again: Side A, Chris Young’s Famous Friends and The Marfa Tapes by Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, thanked his fans “personally and directly.”

“I’d also like to thank my good Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my family, my friends, my team in Nashville, country radio and everyone who has shown me grace along the way,” he added.

While he received cheers from the crowd inside Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, fellow country star Maren Morris refused to stand or applaud for Wallen.

On social media, some country fans were divided, with one tweeting, “Time to let it go,” while another added, “All these people angry about him need to do the same to Michael Jackson and never listen to his music again.”

“He should not pay for that mistake for the rest of his life,” a third chimed.

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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