Months after the controversy over his use of a racial slur, the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards will be limiting country star Morgan Wallen’s eligibility by excluding him from the top prize.
“The Country Music Association’s Board of Directors voted that Wallen will not be eligible for individual artist categories, such as entertainer of the year and male vocalist of the year, according to Catharine McNelly, a CMA spokeswoman,” reported Fox News. “The board decided that Wallen could still be nominated for awards that recognize an artistic work, such as album of the year, song of the year, single of the year, musical event and music video, ‘so as to not limit the opportunity for other credited collaborators.'”
The CMA voter ballots will be sent out on July 6.
Wallen was pulled from various platforms in February after a video showed him using the N-word to refer to a white person during a drunken night out with friends. As The Daily Wire reported in February, SiriusXM, Pandora, CMT, iHeartRadio, and many others pulled Morgan Wallen’s music after the video surfaced.
Wallen’s music was first pulled by Cumulus Media. The country music heavyweight sent a directive to all of its 400-plus stations to remove Wallen’s songs from their playlists “effective immediately,” Variety reported.
iHeartRadio, Entercom, cable network CMT, satellite service SiriusXM, and streaming service Pandora have all also removed the 27-year-old’s songs. Variety noted that Wallen’s music is not currently appearing on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, too. Nashville-based label Big Loud has suspended their contract with Wallen “indefinitely.”
Wallen was also disqualified from playing at the Country Music Awards.
“I’m embarrassed and sorry,” Wallen said. “I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.”
Despite the total de-platforming of his career, Wallen’s music sales continued to soar with his latest album, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” spending 10 weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 chart. In April, after two months of silence, the musician released a video in which he shared a hand-written note that he posted on social media.
“I have felt a lot of love lately from so many people I haven’t gotten to know yet,” Wallen said in the note. “I know my corner hasn’t been the most popular one to stand in recently, but many of you did anyway.”
After reflecting on his many trials and tribulations throughout 2020 and 2021, Wallen said he has been seeking to make amends.
“I wanted to let you guys know that I’ve taken a couple months away and feel like I’ve really worked on myself. I’m proud of the work I’ve put in and in many ways thankful to have had the time to do it. I’ve needed this time off,” he said.
Related: Morgan Wallen Breaks Long Silence: ‘I Needed This Time Off’