Morgan Wallen has been sentenced to spend seven days incarcerated at a DUI education centre and two years on supervised probation after pleading guilty to throwing a chair off of a rooftop bar in Nashville, TN.
The country singer-songwriter was arrested back in April after allegedly throwing a chair from fellow musician Eric Church's sixth-story rooftop watering hole on the city's renowned Broadway strip during its opening weekend. Police were standing in front of the establishment, and the chair allegedly hit the ground about three feet in front of them.
The story went pretty viral, and actually resulted in the city council blocking Morgan Wallen's This Bar — a bar and restaurant named after his 2019 hit "This Bar" but run by a third-party business — from erecting a 20-foot tall neon sign with Wallen's name on it. (It certainly wasn't helped by the 2021 incident where he was captured on video using a racial slur, which he later called "playful.")
Wallen appeared in court today in a hearing postponed from August to face the charges, which were initially three felony counts of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanour of disorderly conduct. They were all reduced to misdemeanours, and with the artist having entered a conditional guilty plea, have the potential to be expunged from his record if he completes the terms of his probation.
"Mr. Wallen has cooperated fully with authorities throughout these last eight months, directly communicating and apologizing to all involved," his attorney, Worrick Robinson IV, told People. "Mr. Wallen remains committed to making a positive impact through his music and foundation."
Oh, right. That. This time year, Wallen gave his first big interview after the racial slur incident, telling Billboard "there's no excuse" — but he's "really not that guy." The feature mentioned that he had undergone meetings with several Black leaders and organizations, to which he also reportedly donated $500,000 USD, but he also has his own foundation that supports programs for youth baseball and music.
Speaking of music, Wallen's popularity has continued to have exponential growth following both his use of the N-word and his arrest for throwing the chair. Yesterday (December 11), DJ Earworm released his annual United State of Pop mashup of the 25 biggest US radio hits of the year, and Wallen made the mix with his solo single "Lies Lies Lies" and his Post Malone collaboration, "I Had Some Help"; it certainly seems as though many have taken Darius Rucker's suggestion that we forgive him.
After Wallen's arrest in April, the singer-songwriter wrote on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, "I didn't feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks. I've touched base with Nashville law enforcement, my family, and the good people at Chief's. I'm not proud of my behaviour, and I accept responsibility. I have the utmost respect for the officers working every day to keep us all safe."
