Morgan Wallen Fans Fund Another Billboard Supporting Him, This Time in Los Angeles
Morgan Wallen's fans have funded another billboard to show their support of him, this time in Los Angeles. It's a response to the 2021 Billboard Music Awards' decision to exclude the country singer from their upcoming ceremony following his use of a racist slur earlier this year.
Per Music Mayhem, the new billboard went up on Monday (May 17) and will remain up until May 24, the day after the 2021 BBMAs. It's running through Lamar Advertising on a billboard along I-5 near the exit for the Microsoft Theatre, the venue for the Billboard Music Awards.
The billboard, of which Music Mayhem has a photo, features an acoustic guitar, a silhouette of Wallen's signature mullet and the hashtag #GAHT, an exclamation coined by the singer and, per merch that's for sale on his website, "used for anything and everything." It all sits over a blue background — a nod to the BBMAs' decision to use a blue box instead of a photo of Wallen on their website.
"Behind that blue box is a human being. A living, breathing, human being. He has feelings just the same as you and I do, so to represent him as a 'blue box' is degrading and uncalled for," says Darleen Ingram, one of the fans who helped pay for the billboard. "We the fans plan to continue standing up to cancel culture. We’re not backing down."
Ingram was one of more than 800 fans who helped pay for six billboards in Nashville ahead of the 2021 ACM Awards, which also opted to bar Wallen from being nominated, performing or attending after he was caught on video using the N-word. Those billboards included a reference to Mark 11:25, a Bible verse about forgiveness, and after people began inquiring about who paid for them, a note that fans were responsible. Though it's hard to tell from the photo of the L.A. billboard, it, too, appears to reference a Bible verse and explain that fans funded it.
Because the Billboard Music Awards are based on chart performance, Billboard was unable to make Wallen ineligible for nomination; however, ahead of the announcement of this year's nominees, showrunners explained that he would not be performing, presenting or appearing in any capacity at the show "as his recent conduct does not align with our core values."
Wallen received six 2021 Billboard Music Awards nominations. After the video of him using the slur surfaced, he was suspended by his record label and dropped by his booking agent, as well as taken out of many radio stations' and streaming platforms' playlists, though fans continued to support him and his January release, Dangerous: The Double Album, by purchasing and streaming it.
Wallen apologized, promised to better himself and shared that he'd be stepping out of the spotlight for an unannounced amount of time following the video's publication. He was originally part of Luke Bryan's 2021 Proud to Be Right Here Tour but will not be touring this summer.
Wallen has been occasionally posting to social media in recent weeks. However, he has not shared what steps he's been taking to learn and grow from the incident.
The 2021 Billboard Music Awards are set for Sunday (May 23) and will air live on NBC at 8PM ET.
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