Country star Morgan Wallen won the CMA Album of the Year award Monday, only a year after suffering a ban by the Academy of Country Music Awards after audio of him saying the N-word as he joked with several friends went viral.
In October of last year, Morgan Wallen was excluded from the American Music Awards (AMAs) in Los Angeles, despite being nominated for two awards, after the N-word video hit social media. He also suffered a loss of sponsors, his agents, and a ban by the Academy of Country Music.
But on Monday, Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album took home the award for album of the year at the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards.
“When I started this album, I was a kid. By the time I put it out, I was a father,” Morgan said during his acceptance speech. “That’s become more important to me than anything else. To my son, this album and this award will signify that his daddy was a fighter, and he chased his dreams and worked hard to make them a reality.”
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Wallen went on to thank the songwriters, other artists, and God before walking off the stage in triumph. He did not, though, mention the N-word controversy.
But he didn’t really have to. After all, the cancel culture did not seem to hold much power to ruin him as it has so many others. Despite the long knives that were brought to bear against him after the video was released, Wallen was still invited to perform at the revered Grand Ole Opry, and that same year his double album became the best-selling country album for 2021.
A group of Wallen fans even went to the expense of funding a billboard campaign to scold the country music industry for blacklisting the singer.
Still, in the aftermath of the controversy, Wallen did make his apology tour through the music industry, and even donated to Black Lives Matter-style groups to make amends.
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