Morgan Wallen Free-Fallin’
• UPDATED, 1:50pm PT: Country radio’s biggest star of the moment, Morgan Wallen, has now become even more famous… and not in that good way — Cumulus Media, iHeartMedia, Entercom, Beasley Media Media Group, Alpha Media, Townsquare Media, SiriusXM/Pandora andCMT have now publicly pulled Wallen’s music from their radio stations in the wake of a video posted to TMZ Tuesday evening, reportedly recorded by Wallen’s neighbors, showing him yelling profanities — including the N-word — after a night out in Nashville.
Cumulus was the first company to drop Wallen’s music — late Tuesday night, Cumulus issued a companywide memo (obtained by Variety), titled “MORGAN WALLEN — EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.” The memo, signed by Brian Philips, Cumulus EVP of Programming and John Dimick, SVP of Programming Operations, reads, “Team, unfortunately country music star Morgan Wallen was captured on video Sunday evening using a racial slur. Effective immediately we request that all of Morgan Wallen’s music be removed from our playlists without exception. More to follow.”
Wednesday morning, iHeartMedia also dropped Wallen’s product. In a statement, an iHeart spokesperson said, “In light of Morgan Wallen’s recent actions involving the use of a racial slur, we have made the decision to remove his music and content from our stations, effective immediately.” Entercom also issued a statement that read, “In light of Morgan Wallen’s recent use of a racial slur, we’ve discussed the incident with our Country brand leadership team and together have made the decision to remove Morgan’s music from Entercom’s playlists.” Beasley Media Group’s statement reads, “We were deeply saddened and disappointed to hear of the recent comment made by Morgan Wallen. Beasley is a company that celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion. We have pulled his music from our seven country stations’ playlists.”
• RAMP received a copy of a memo from Alpha Media EVP of Content Phil Becker that reads, “Alpha Media has decided to remove all of Morgan Wallen’s music and content from our radio stations and digital destinations, effective immediately. Alpha has zero-tolerance for racial slurs and practices diversity and inclusion in all levels of operations. Thank you to everyone, including those who worked with us late last night, to take this immediate action.”
• CMT tweeted, “After learning of Morgan Wallen’s racial slur late last night, we are in the process of removing his appearances from all our platforms. We do not tolerate or condone words and actions that are in direct opposition to our core values that celebrate diversity, equity & inclusion.”
• A statement from Patrick Reilly, SiriusXM SVP of Corp. Communications reads, simply, “Yes, we have pulled Morgan Wallen’s content from SiriusXM and Pandora.”
• While Townsquare Media has not issued a formal statement, RAMP has confirmed that the company has also removed Morgan Wallen’s music from rotation.
• Around 9am PT Wednesday, Wallen’s record label, Big Loud issued a statement on Twitter that reads, “In the wake of recent events, Big Loud Records has made the decision to suspend Morgan Wallen’s contract indefinitely.” Republic Records, which distributes Wallen’s recordings, echoed that sentiment, stating, “Republic Records fully supports Big Loud’s decision and agrees such behavior will not be tolerated.”
[Ed. note: This is still a developing story. There’s no word yet on how long this ban might last, or whether other broadcasters and streaming services will follow suit.]
