2020 will leave a lasting impression on millions of people around the world, especially Morgan Wallen—well, except for the fact that he is not dealing with the same unprecedented circumstances as the rest of us, and rather his actions have the potential to ruin his once remarkable country music career. 

Morgan Wallen is a 27-year-old rising American country music singer who started his career on the television show “The Voice.” He later signed to Big Loud Records, where he wrote and produced several hit albums such as If I Know Me and Dangerous: the Double Album. Of these two albums, several songs have reached the top charts of country music. The most prominent being “7 Summers,” which broke the boundaries of pop and country music, ultimately gaining a spot in the top ten for all music categories in both the United States and Canada.

Yet this spark of popularity for Morgan Wallen started to diminish as fans became more aware of his actions while the world was facing a global pandemic. To start, Morgan Wallen got into a bar fight with his friends in Nashville. Intoxicated, angry, and maskless, Wallen was arrested the night of May 24th, 2020, as he put himself and other individuals in danger. He was eventually released the next day with a $500 bond only to post an apology tweet stating, “we didn’t mean any harm, and we want to say sorry to any bar staff or anyone that was affected.” This encounter pushed several country music fans to get upset that he was fighting and out in public during the middle of a global pandemic, even though Nashville did not have strict stay-at-home regulations during the time. 

After this fight with his friends, Wallen started to move away from the bar scene, although his overwhelming presence on social media remained. In one shocking Instagram post on July 13th, Wallen celebrated the birth of his son. Nope, you did not read that wrong, his son! The word shocking is an understatement. Now, although privacy is important in such famous public figures’ lives, fans were just a little bit confused about who the mother was. His son, Indigo “Indie” Wilder, was born to his ex-girlfriend Katie Smith on July 10th, 2020. 

Wallen did not need to post an apology tweet for this even though the Instagram post left fans and followers confused. Here is the Instagram announcement

Now you might be thinking, one bar fight and a surprise birth reveal is not all that bad. But nope, it gets worse. On October 3rd, Wallen spent the weekend drinking and making out with several college girls at the University of Alabama, without a mask. Needless to say, this was not the best decision to make at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Videos on TikTok started to surface the morning after, leaving fans outraged and questioning if they should even support his music. Wallen was also supposed to perform on Saturday Night Live (SNL) the next weekend but, due to safety concerns, SNL made the executive decision to cancel him from the show. After his apology video, SNL worked out an agreement to allow him to perform later in December.  

Here are the videos of Morgan Wallen in the bar: 

And subsequently apology video #2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BE6UqFbvbg

As if the year could not get any more complicated for Morgan Wallen, videos surfaced of him intoxicated and yelling out racial slurs in the middle of the night. A video filmed by his next-door neighbor caught Wallen yelling the N-word and making disgusting remarks to his friends. His ignorance strongly impacted the Black community and was also disrespectful to the country music industry as a whole. Several fans were outraged and stopped listening to his music entirely. Country Radio also decided that they would stop playing his music and pulled his songs from every radio station they could. Morgan Wallen was bold enough to make a third apology video for the mistakes he has made this year. In the video, he asked his fans not to support him and that he understands the impact his words have on other individuals. Wallen promised to better himself and grow from his mistakes in the future. But even after his apology video, many believe Wallen needs a stricter form of punishment as he has not lost much of his following. 

Here is apology video #3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V2YM8HHJ2U

It has been disheartening to watch someone with so much potential lose it within one year. Just as Wallen gained popularity and respect from the country music industry, his actions have cost him, several strong supporters. Although 2021 is not off to a good start for Morgan Wallen thus far, I hope he can get over this immature and ignorant phase in his life to reach his full potential as an artist. If not, his career is indefinitely in danger.