Cancel culture fueling surge in Morgan Wallen sales after racial slur, supporters say

Album sales for country music star Morgan Wallen continue to surge after he was heard saying a racial slur in a viral video.

And some people say it’s in retaliation to so-called “cancel culture.”

Wallen remained on top of the Billboard 200 chart for the fourth straight week for his album “Dangerous: The Double Album.” His streams and sales increased last week in the days that followed him saying the racial slur in a video posted by TMZ.

His record label, Big Loud Records, suspended his contract and thousands of radio stations across the country removed his songs from airplay. Wallen apologized for his remarks, but has not publicly commented on the matter in more than a week.

His album became the first country record to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 since 2003, according to Billboard — and some are attributing the skyrocketing sales to cancel culture.

“I suspect the real reason is not because they were showing support for using a racial slur, but because they are fed up with the ‘cancel culture’ trying to destroy people’s lives and careers because they made a dumb mistake for which they have publicly apologized,” former Arkansas governor and Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee said.

”Cancel culture refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive. [It’s] generally discussed as being performed on social media in the form of group shaming,” according to Dictionary.com.

Cancel culture was also mentioned last weekend by Wallen’s sister, Ashley Wallen, who called it “the worst thing that has come out of our digital world.”

“It leaves no room for forgiveness and growth, in turn, leaving no opportunity for individuals who have made mistakes to learn from them,” she said in an Instagram post. “If you make a mistake or do something stupid then apologize, correct your mistake, and learn through personal growth.”

She said she accepts her brother’s apology, saying his slur “did not come from a place of hate or malicious intent.”

Bobby Bones, a country music radio host, said on his show that he “like(s) Morgan Wallen as a person” — but said there must be some accountability for his actions.

“I’m also not a big cancel culture guy. But I am a go-away-for-a-while guy... He’s got a lot of self-evaluation to do. A lot. I think he knows that... I am an advocate of Morgan going away for a while,” he said. “But I’m also an advocate of him learning and coming back and being able to help others. The only way you become not an idiot is by learning why you are an idiot.”

Mickey Guyton, a country musician, said last week that Wallen did not deserve to be “canceled” in the wake of him saying the racial slur.

“Watching anyone fall from grace is a terrible thing to see,” she wrote on Twitter. “People must all be given a chance to change. Morgan must feel the weight of his words but completely throwing someone away is detrimental to anyone’s mental health.”

But Guyton, who is Black, pushed back against those saying Wallen’s comments don’t reflect a larger problem in the genre.

“When I read comments saying ‘this is not who we are,’ I laugh because this is exactly who country music is,” Guyton wrote. “I’ve witnessed it for 10 years. You guys should just read some of the vile comments hurled at me on a daily basis. It’s a cold hard truth to face but it is the truth.”

Six of Wallen’s songs are in the top 10 of iTunes’ most-purchased songs as of Wednesday morning. He also has three of iTunes’ top four albums.

Some of his supporters wrote on social media they are listening or buying Wallen’s music because of cancel culture fears.

“Here I am listening to Morgan Wallen all morning because I hate cancel culture and still love his music,” one Twitter user wrote.

“Just ordered all of @MorganWallen CDs in case cancel culture tries to delete his music,” another user said.

This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 8:24 AM with the headline "Cancel culture fueling surge in Morgan Wallen sales after racial slur, supporters say."