Darius Rucker Believes Morgan Wallen ‘Hasn’t Been Forgiven’ By Country Fans For His Racial Slur And Subsequent ‘Canceling’

Darius Rucker is willing to forgive Morgan Wallen for using a racial slur, but he can’t say the same for the rest of the country music community.

“I think Morgan’s become a better person since then. I’ve known Morgan for a long time,” the former Hootie & The Blowfish frontman said on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, referring to Morgan’s use of the N-word that ultimately led to his “cancelation.”

“Since everything that’s happened, you know, Morgan has tried to improve himself, become a better person and see the world in a much better way. And you know, he’s not forgiven… Morgan’s still not ready for the CMAs and the ACMs.”

MORGAN WALLEN HAS UNDERWEAR THROWED IN HIS FACE DURING CONCERT

“They can say what they want, but the fact that Morgan Wallen isn’t nominated for Entertainer of the Year and stuff like that is crazy, because nobody has sold more tickets than Morgan. Maybe Luke Combs is on par with him. But they’re playing stadiums, man,” Rucker said.

“But that’s society. What I think doesn’t matter. People make up their own minds and stick to them. That’s just the way it is,” he added.

In 2021, TMZ released a video of Wallen using the N-word. He was immediately criticized, his music was pulled from radio, and his record label was suspended. “That person is definitely not the same person I am now,” Wallen told Billboard last year of the man in the video. Months after the incident, Wallen shared onHello America“that he and his friends were clearly drunk when he uttered the insult.

After the scandal, Wallen checked himself into rehab. He also spoke with black leaders and pledged $500,000 to black-affiliated groups, a promise he ultimately kept. Much of that money went to the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC). Wallen donated $300,000 on behalf of 20 people who mentored him during this difficult time. According to USA Today, those 20 people were given the choice of keeping the money at BMAC or donating their share to a charity of their choice.

Despite the scrutiny, sales of Wallen’s music has actually increased.

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Wallen told Billboard that he realized how much people were listening to him. “I don’t think I realized it, at least not on this scale at the time,” he added. “I learned how much my words matter.”

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Wallen also reflected on the consequences he faced and his dissatisfaction with cancel cultureHe admitted to being angry at how quickly the world labeled him a racist.

“I have no excuses. I’ve never made excuses. I’ll never make excuses,” Wallen said. “I’ve talked to a lot of people, I’ve heard stories about things that I never would have thought of because I wasn’t the one going through them. And I think, for me, in my heart, I was never the guy that people described me as, so there was a little bit of, ‘Gosh, I’m a little angry about this because I know I shouldn’t have said that, but I’m really not that guy.’”

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“I put myself in a really shitty situation, you know? Like, ‘You really did something stupid, man.’ If I was that guy, I wouldn’t care. I wouldn’t have apologized. I wouldn’t have done any of that if I was really that guy that people were talking about me,” the “Lies Lies Lies” singer said of correcting his mistake.

Since that insult, Wallen has been trying to restore his image. He has encountered some difficulties, including an arrest in April for allegedly throwing a chair off the roof of a bar in Nashville, Tennessee. The singer is currently on his “One Night at a Time” tour.