Morgan Wallen Just Reunited With A Big Name For The First Time Since His Scandal
While Morgan Wallen is no stranger to controversy, the country singer is back in the spotlight for better reasons. Fresh off his 2022 Academy of Country Music Award win for Album of the Year — which Wallen's critics were none too happy about — he returned to his Dangerous Tour and appears to be doing some image rehabilitation of his own.
Wallen's career seemed uncertain after a controversy of his rocked the country music industry in February 2021. In a viral video filmed by his Nashville neighbor, Wallen arrived home late after partying and tossed off a racial slur, per TMZ. This was only a short time after Wallen's first scheduled "Saturday Night Live" performance was canceled after Wallen was spotted partying in a bar, without masks, in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fellow country music stars were not happy with Wallen, or his apology. "To be that flippant and nonchalant while hurling the most offensive racial slur you could utter," singer Cassadee Pope wrote in reaction on Instagram (via Us Weekly), "some people just have ZERO sensitivity to a real f***ing problem in this world: racism." Prominent Black country star Mickey Guyton tweeted, "Promises to do better don't mean s***." Maren Morris still doesn't support Wallen, as she refused to stand or applaud for his latest ACM win.
But one country music star reached out to Wallen instead, showing patience and forgiveness — and even joined Wallen at his Nashville concert.
Jimmie Allen believed in forgiving Morgan Wallen
Morgan Wallen welcomed several guests to his Dangerous Tour on March 16, the first of three nights in Nashville. Among performers like Ronnie Dunn, Hardy, and Larry Fleet, Wallen also invited Jimmie Allen to share his stage, per People.
Though many may believe that Wallen is virtue signaling after his racial slur controversy, the two stars are indeed friendly because Allen reached out to Wallen after the scandal. When the viral video hit, the Black country artist didn't criticize Wallen as sharply as many others. He took some time to respond, then tweeted, "Forgiveness is more powerful than abandonment. Our job as humans is to help each other be the best version of themselves."
Allen explained his reaching out to Wallen on a 2021 episode of the "Bobbycast" podcast. "If we want to make the world a better place, we have to do the work, and the work is putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations," Allen said. He also acknowledged that Wallen had bigger problems at the time, referencing his earlier public intoxication and disorderly conduct arrest. "This is a guy ... that we've seen struggling for years," Allen said, "and no one cared until he said the N-word." While Allen acknowledged that people shouldn't say the racial slur, he said, "just because I don't agree with what [Wallen] said doesn't mean I should banish him." After Allen joined Wallen on stage, it seems the two artists are now finding harmony in positive change.