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| Morgan Wallen |
In the five-minute video posted to YouTube, Wallen further apologized for his actions, describing what is depicted in the video as "hour 72 of 72 of a bender." He first issued a brief apology via TMZ — which published the video — last week.
"Obviously, the natural thing to do is to apologize further and just continue to apologize but because you got caught and that's not what I wanted to do," Wallen said. "I let so many people down. And [people] who mean a lot to me and give so much to me. And that's just not fair."
Since the video published, many in country radio shelved Wallen, streaming services pulled his music from promoted playlists, the ACM Awards withdrew him from eligibility and his label, Nashville's Big Loud, suspended his contract.
After the video ignited public backlash, Wallen said he took meetings with "some amazing Black organizations." Last week, performance rights organization BMI asked gospel legend BeBe Winans to discuss with Wallen the impact of his words; the Nashville NAACP reportedly invited Wallen to have a conversation.
He said he heard firsthand stories from Black leaders "that honestly shook me." He added that his experience this week "doesn't even compare to some of the trials I've heard about from them."
"Our actions matter, our words matter and I just wanna encourage anyone watching to please learn from my mistake," Wallen said.
And he asked followers who defended his actions to stop. The call comes after Wallen's songs continue to surged on iTunes and Billboard sales charts following his racial outburst.
Billboard reported that his new release "Dangerous: The Double Album" sold 25,000 copies during the week ending Feb. 4, an increase of 102%, according to MRC Data. Song downloads from the album also grew 67%. The record bowed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a fourth consecutive week.
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