I was digging on the radio Thursday morning and stopped on one of my local faves, 107.9FM New Country, and a familiar voice that recently has been anything-but-familiar rang out.
Morgan Wallen’s “Chasin’ You” came through the speakers, and I sang along instinctively. I’m a Morgan Wallen fan, have been for a while, even since one of his early hits “The Way I Talk” made him a country star way before the way he talked made him a national lightning rod.
In February, Wallen went from rising star to pariah for using the one word we universally deplore. Wallen called one of his white buddies the N-word, and it was caught on phone video by a neighbor.
The reaction was swift. He apologized. His label suspended him. National radio stations shunned him. Sponsors predictably ran from him.
Those outcomes surprised no one, Wallen included. If there’s one universal no-no in the public’s eye, it’s a white dude – especially a country music singer – dropping the N-bomb. We all know this, Wallen included. He was glowing with the radioactivity that that disgusting racial slur can generate.