Morgan Wallen's new bar won't feature one of those neon signs that are ubiquitous among downtown Nashville honky tonks.
The Nashville Metro Council this week rejected the “Whiskey Glasses” singer’s request to install a sign with his name outside Morgan Wallen’s This Bar & Tenessee Kitchen, which will open over Memorial Day weekend.
“I don't want to see a sign with the name of a person who throws chairs off balconies and says racial slurs,” at-large council member Delishia Porterfield said during Tuesday's council meeting.
Wallen came under fire for using a slur in 2021, which put his career in free fall and saw him banned, albeit temporarily, from the country's two largest radio and television networks, removed from music streaming services and suspended for his record label. .
While his double album “Dangerous” and its 2023 follow-up “One Thing at a Time” swept the charts in the background, Wallen's reputation slowly recovered, until he was arrested in April after allegedly throwing a chair. from the six-story roof. from Chief's, the Nashville bar and music venue co-owned by country singer and Wallen's business partner, Eric Church. The chair landed three feet away from police officers on a sidewalk below, and the superstar was later arrested on three felony counts of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
Other council members who spoke Tuesday said their “no” votes were prompted by Wallen’s history of “hateful” and “racist” comments; The singer was captured on a neighbor's Ring camera calling a friend the n-word in his driveway after a night of drinking.
One council member commented that he would vote no in part because, in his words, Wallen had promised to give money “to the NAACP for funding” and then failed to do so. Rolling Stone had published a report in late 2021 saying that Wallen had reneged on his commitment to donate $500,000 to several Black-led groups and organizations, but USA Today later reported that Wallen and his team had, in fact, donated most of the money. funds as promised.
Jacob Kupin, a council member who voted yes on the measure, acknowledged that Wallen's behavior was concerning, but said he would support the sign because the company that operates the bar had been a reliable business partner. “It caught my attention that we were putting a sign in the center with the name of someone who has not been a good actor,” he said.
Wallen has attempted to make amends for the chair throwing incident. An initial court hearing was postponed until August 15.
“I have been in contact with the authorities in Nashville, my family and the good people at Chief's. “I am not proud of my behavior and I accept responsibility,” the singer wrote in x.
At the moment, it seems that the Metro Council is not convinced.
Times freelance writer Holly Gleason contributed to this report.
