Wallen chats with ABC’s GMA
Morgan Wallen is set to give his first interview since being caught on video in February using a racial slur. Wallen sits with ABC’s Michael Strahan for an exclusive first interview on Good Morning America (GMA) set to air tomorrow (Fri, July 23rd) starting at 7 am ET/PT.
“So this is not the first time you said the word,” Strahan says in a clip shared on social media. “A lot of people are going to say he’s only sitting down because he wants to clean up his image.”
Wallen is not seen speaking in the preview that can be seen below.
In fear of social backlash, Wallen was blacklisted by the industry hours after TMZ released the video. His label — Big Loud Records in partnership with Republic Records — “made the decision to suspend Morgan Wallen’s recording contract indefinitely” and swiftly removed his likeness from their website rosters. Most media outlets pulled his music from their playlists by midnight, and he was deemed ineligible by the major award organizations.
Despite the boycott, Wallen’s sophomore Dangerous: The Double Album — released a few days before the controversy — broke nearly every record as his diehard fans pressed back against one of the highest profile cases of cancel culture in 2021. His music surged by more than 300% and the album spent its first ten consecutive weeks atop of the Billboard 200 chart, breaking a 34 year old record. At least six of the ten chart-topping weeks were without the help of any promotion.
A month later, many radio stations began quietly reinstating his music, including Cumulus — which was the first major chain to pull it. In May, Big Loud Records quietly reinstated his likeness on their website although he still does not appear on Republic’s artist roster as of this writing. This week, the label released “Sand in My Boots” to country radio which has given Wallen a 2800% increase in airplay since February.
A week after the incident, Wallen released a video statement saying he’d be taking time away from the spotlight to work on himself. A short time later, Wallen updated fans on his progress with a nearly four page handwritten letter that he shared on social media in which Wallen confirms he will not appear on Luke Bryan’s 2021 Proud To Be Right Here Tour as originally planned.
Wallen appeared on stage for the first time since the incident in mid-May. He took the stage at Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk bar on Nashville’s Broadway to perform “Wasted On You” and “Whiskey Glasses” before a packed house.
