Morgan Wallen has been in trouble with the law more than once – but when he threw a chair off a roof and nearly crushed a cop with it, he finally went too far.
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00:00Morgan Wallen has been in trouble with the law more than once, but when he threw a chair
00:04off a roof and nearly crushed a cop with it, he finally went too far.
00:10Morgan Wallen and a few pals were bar hopping in Nashville in May 2020 and wound up at Kid
00:14Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock and Roll Steakhouse.
00:17The party got a little too wild, and Wallen allegedly kicked some glass objects, which
00:21led him to get unceremoniously thrown out the bar.
00:24Out on the street, Wallen reportedly harassed people who were walking by, engaging in verbal
00:29altercations with them.
00:30Police officers intervened and encouraged Wallen to move on, but he didn't.
00:35Determining the intoxicated country singer was a danger to himself and the public, officers
00:39eventually placed him in custody.
00:41He was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
00:45The official arrest warrant noted,
00:47"[Officers gave Wallen several opportunities to walk away with his friends, but he refused
00:51to walk away.]
00:52Wallen responded to his arrest in a since-deleted tweet, saying,
00:55After a couple bar stops, we were horse-playing with each other.
00:58We didn't mean any harm."
00:59When Wallen appeared in court a few months later, all the charges were dropped, and Wallen
01:07and Kid Rock apparently are back on good terms.
01:10In October 2020, Morgan Wallen was announced as musical guest on Saturday Night Live, a
01:15breakout performance that promised to catapult him from country music stardom into the mainstream.
01:20Instead, his appearance was canceled.
01:22At that time, the show had just returned to its iconic Rockefeller Center studio for
01:26the first time in more than six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
01:30Days before his scheduled appearance, social media videos revealed Morgan attending a crowded
01:35party, no face masks in sight.
01:38Given SNL's strict safety protocols, executive producer Lorne Michaels had no choice but
01:43to cancel Wallen's appearance, booking Jack White as a last-minute replacement.
01:47We're just living in a different time, and everything is scrutinized."
01:50Wallen responded in a since-deleted Instagram video, displaying both disappointment and
01:54acknowledgement that he'd screwed up.
01:56He said,
01:57My actions this past weekend were pretty short-sighted.
01:59I respect the show's decision because I know that I put them in jeopardy.
02:03I take ownership for this."
02:04Wallen finally made his SNL debut in December 2020.
02:08He even appeared in a sketch poking fun at the whole situation, with host Jason Bateman
02:12portraying Wallen from the future, who'd returned to that fateful party to warn himself of the
02:16repercussions.
02:18Saturday Night Live wasn't the only gig affected by Wallen's ill-advised night of maskless
02:23partying.
02:24He had also been scheduled to headline the Rome River Jam in Rome, Georgia, the prior
02:28evening.
02:29Instead, he had to cancel that performance as well, stating in a now-deleted apology
02:33video on Instagram that he needed to take some time off to work on Me.
02:37The festival, noted Billboard, was a unique and experimental event meant to revive live
02:41music performance after months of pandemic shutdown.
02:44The events came together while remaining socially distanced from each other, watching the performers
02:48from within their own individual pods, while stringent safety guidelines had been put in
02:52place — guidelines which Wallen had clearly ignored.
02:56Wallen was replaced as headliner by Lee Bryce.
02:58A message from the festival stated,
03:00"'Morgan Wallen's performance at Rome River Jam will be rescheduled to May 1st, 2021.
03:05All purchased tickets will be honored for this date.
03:07On behalf of Morgan and his team, we sincerely apologize."
03:11As it turned out, Morgan Wallen's Saturday Night Live controversy was just a warm-up
03:15for a far bigger scandal.
03:17In early 2021, TMZ shared a shocking video of Wallen that had been captured on a neighbor's
03:22security camera as he and a group of friends returned to his home, apparently intoxicated.
03:27At one point, Wallen can clearly be heard using the N-word.
03:31It didn't take long for Wallen to become engulfed in backlash, with numerous fellow country
03:35stars — including Mickey Guyton — blasting him on social media.
03:39Wallen quickly apologized in a statement, saying,
03:41"'I'm embarrassed and sorry.
03:42I want to sincerely apologize for using the word.
03:45I promise to do better.'"
03:46That did little to quell the outrage, so he attempted to explain his actions in a video
03:50he posted to Instagram, where he blamed alcohol, saying,
03:54"'The video you saw was me on hour 72 of 72 of a bender, and that's not something I'm
03:59proud of either.'"
04:00"'When I do start drinking, it just, it can get a little, a little muddy.'"
04:05He also felt industry repercussions when numerous radio conglomerates throughout the U.S. pulled
04:10his music from their stations, a lengthy list that included the country's largest group
04:14of radio stations, iHeartMedia.
04:16To make matters worse, his record label, Big Loud, tweeted,
04:19"'In the wake of recent events, Big Loud Records has made the decision to suspend Morgan Wallen's
04:24recording contract indefinitely.'"
04:27By October of 2021, the controversy surrounding Wallen's racist language was still swirling,
04:33leading the producers of the American Music Awards to announce that he was banned from
04:36attending the show, even though he was nominated for two awards.
04:40A statement from the production company read, in part,
04:42"'As his conduct does not align with our core values, we will not be including him
04:46on the show in any capacity.'
04:48However, the statement said that Wallen might be invited to future AMAs, provided he take
04:52in the appropriate steps.
04:54We plan to evaluate his progress in doing meaningful work as an ally to the Black community
04:59and will consider his participation in future shows."
05:01The following year, Diddy was announced as host and producer of the Billboard Music Awards,
05:06and he decreed that Wallen was welcome to attend the show, saying,
05:10"'We're uncanceling the canceled.
05:11I'm here to forgive, to unify, to celebrate, and to have everybody be free.'"
05:15In hindsight, given the disturbing allegations against Diddy which later came to light, being
05:19uncanceled by him isn't necessarily great, either.
05:23Morgan Wallen became a father in 2020 with the arrival of his son, Indigo.
05:27He identified the mother of his child as K.T.
05:29Smith.
05:30Fans at the time were curious about their relationship status.
05:33As it turned out, they'd already broken up by the time Indy was born.
05:37As for what split up their relationship, Smith told All in a 2021 blog post.
05:41As she recalled, they began chatting via Snapchat and started seeing each other in 2016.
05:46Morgan popped the question fairly early on in their relationship, but their engagement
05:50didn't last long.
05:51Smith wrote,
05:52"'We broke off the engagement but still dated consistently for about two years, living with
05:56one another for about three.
05:57But that third year was rocky, the kind of toxic trauma bond you hear about on TikTok."
06:02She described their relationship as being off and on and blamed their eventual breakup
06:06on his stratospheric rise to stardom during that period.
06:09Being thrown into the spotlight at such a young age is obviously going to come with
06:13some bad decisions.
06:14He wasn't the most faithful.
06:15Co-parenting with Morgan at the beginning was extremely difficult because it was very
06:19new to both of us and I was still bitter towards him.
06:22K.T.
06:23Smith's allegation that Morgan Wallen cheated on her over the course of their relationship
06:26aligns with strikingly similar claims from another woman that he dated.
06:30In February 2022, Page Six reported that Wallen and model Paige Lorenz had split after dating
06:36for approximately a year.
06:37A source told the outlet,
06:38"'She suspected he was cheating on her with multiple people.'
06:41After they went public, Paige started getting all these messages on Instagram from girls
06:45saying,
06:46"'I was with him.
06:47We slept together.'"
06:48Shortly after that report, Lorenz herself seemingly confirmed those claims in a cryptic
06:52message apparently referencing Wallen's infidelity.
06:55In an Instagram story, she shared,
06:57"'One of the most underrated ingredients for having a good life is a clear conscience.
07:02To know you aren't out here doing people wrong and hiding who you are lets you sleep peaceful
07:07at night.
07:08Karma is real.
07:09Energy is contagious.'"
07:10If Lorenz's name seems familiar, it may be because in 2021, she publicly accused ex-boyfriend
07:15Armie Hammer of cannibalism, which at least puts Wallen's unsavory behavior in perspective.
07:19"'You would say, oh, I wanna remove your ribs, we're gonna find a doctor in L.A., and I wanna
07:25smoke them and eat them.'"
07:26In spring 2023, fans assembled at the Vought-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi to watch Morgan
07:32Wallen in concert.
07:33Minutes before the show was scheduled to start, however, a message flashed on the venue's
07:37video screens to announce the show had been canceled.
07:39It read,
07:40"'Ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately Morgan has lost his voice and is unable to perform
07:44tonight.'
07:45Fans were offered a refund for the ticket price, but local law firm Kilpatrick & Philly
07:49advised fans not to accept the refund that was offered, writing in a Facebook post,
07:53"'A refund of the ticket price is insufficient to compensate us for our actual out-of-pocket
07:58expense.'"
07:59Irked concertgoer Brandi Burcham took the legal advice and sued.
08:03According to Page Six, her lawsuit declared,
08:05"'Even if ticket prices are refunded, no offer has been made to reimburse concertgoers for
08:09other out-of-pocket expenses they incurred in connection with the concert cancellation,
08:14including transportation, lodging, food, merchandise sales, transaction fees, and other such expenses.'"
08:20Burcham withdrew her suit, but only her attorneys explained because they planned to refile it
08:24as a class-action suit representing all the concertgoers affected.
08:28The plot thickened when a TikTok video emerged in which a security guard at the venue claimed
08:32Wallen was too inebriated to perform and had to be taken out of the venue in an ambulance.
08:37The company that employed that guard later issued a statement via Instagram Story dismissing
08:41his comments as false claims.
08:44Wallen has clearly been in trouble with both the law and the court of public opinion over
08:47the years, but things got seriously out of control in April 2024.
08:51According to reports, Wallen was on the rooftop bar of Chiefs, the Nashville establishment
08:55owned by country music star Eric Church, when he threw a chair off the side of the six-story
09:00building and then laughed about it.
09:02When the chair crashed to the street below, it narrowly avoided hitting two Nashville
09:05police officers who were on the sidewalk below.
09:08Wallen was placed under arrest and charged with several felony counts.
09:12With the seriousness of the charges belied by Wallen's smiling face in the mugshot taken
09:16after his arrest, he was subsequently released from jail on a $15,250 bond.
09:22Wallen's lawyer, Warwick Robinson, declared in a statement,
09:25"...he is cooperating fully with authorities."
09:27Legal expert David Rabin told People that the charges against Wallen were no joke, and
09:32could result in a maximum of six years in prison.
09:34However, Rabin didn't believe he'd actually wind up serving that much time.
09:38Rabin said,
09:39"...it's probably a maximum of two years assuming he was not put on probation."
09:43Meanwhile, the folks running Church's rooftop bar, Rodney Scott's Whole Hog Rooftop Barbecue,
09:48altered the marquee after the incident.
09:50According to a photo posted on Facebook, the sign boasted the tongue-in-cheek addition,
09:54"...our pigs fly, our chairs don't."
09:56When examining the various incidents that have demonstrated the shady side of Morgan
10:00Wallen, one element seems to be interwoven throughout many of them — alcohol.
10:05Wallen has acknowledged his own curiosity over whether he may have issues with substance
10:09abuse, something he addressed when he appeared on Good Morning America to address his drunken
10:13use of a racial slur back in 2021.
10:16During that interview, Wallen revealed that he'd checked himself into rehab.
10:20He mused,
10:21"...for 30 days, I spent some time out in San Diego, California, you know, just trying
10:25to figure it out.
10:26Why am I acting this way?
10:27Do I have an alcohol problem?
10:29Do I have a deeper issue?"
10:30Since then, Wallen has never said much more about the subject beyond that.
10:34However, an anonymous source purporting to have insider insight into the situation told
10:38People that Wallen's love of a good time may have gotten out of control.
10:42Morgan is generally a nice, fun person to hang out with, but when he gets going, he
10:46doesn't know when to stop.
10:48Morgan and alcohol is a problem, and it's been a problem that keeps coming back around.