New York isn’t a stronghold of country music. But singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen’s two sold-out Madison Square Garden shows last week were more than a celebration of a genre whose cowboy hats and southern drawls seem out of place in Gotham.
They were a defeat for cancel culture and those seeking to enforce rules of political and social conformity that are making our society more outraged and less tolerant.
Wallen, 28, isn’t just the biggest thing in country music. By any measure, his latest record was the most successful in the entire music industry; Billboard declared “Dangerous: The Double Album” the most popular album in America in 2021. His songs topped the charts throughout the last year, a dominance rare for any performer, let alone a country singer.
Yet few expected that ascendancy a year ago — or thought Wallen could kick off a 46-city tour with two sold-out shows in New York. When TMZ published a video (shot by one of his Nashville neighbors) showing the singer using the N-word as he stumbled home with friends after a night of drinking last February, everyone assumed his career was over.
Notwithstanding the abject apologies he quickly issued and the charitable donations he made to African-American causes to atone for his behavior, the Country Music Awards disqualified Wallen from consideration, SiriusXM and most radio stations dropped his songs and Spotify and Apple Music removed him from their playlists.
That should have finished Wallen the same way it did other entertainment figures, like Roseanne Barr, who lost her TV show after making a comment that was deemed racist. While some entertainers get let off with a slap on the wrist for saying dumb or offensive things (Whoopi Goldberg just returned to “The View” after making idiotic Holocaust comments), using the N-word isn’t just off-limits for a white person: It’s the third rail of cancel culture that is assumed to ensure immediate and permanent termination.
But that’s not what happened.
Though the pop-culture commissars who enforce the will of Twitter mobs declared Wallen a nonperson, his fans disagreed. The next month, his album was still at the top of the Billboard charts, and his music was being streamed as much as before. Such is the power of the music-loving public that by the start of 2022, Wallen’s position at the apex of his field was unchallenged and his suspensions had long since been rescinded.
That set off a lot of teeth-gnashing among commentators at outlets like The New York Times and CNN. They complain that, despite having to grovel for forgiveness, Wallen hasn’t been held accountable in a way that would make him an exemplary lesson.
Nothing less than the end of his career would satisfy these public scolds. They also worry that Wallen’s ability to stay on top bodes ill for their efforts to destroy other figures in their crosshairs, such as podcaster Joe Rogan.
Wallen’s critics think his survival shows that country-music fans are incorrigible racists and the genre is a den of Trumpist “insurrection.”
It’s true that country’s core audience is primarily though not exclusively white. (Lil Nas X’s country-rap crossover “Old Town Road” was a huge hit in both genres.) And the “Let’s go, Brandon” chants heard at Wallen’s New York concerts testify to the popularity of country among the non-woke.
But like all those who seek to divide Americans on race and politics, those furious about Wallen’s persistent popularity don’t understand what is actually going on outside blue bastions.
Most Americans — and that includes New Yorkers — resent being told how to think and whom they may listen to. Wallen’s popularity is testimony to his music’s appeal. But the cheers for him are also a middle finger to cancel culture.
That doesn’t condone his use of a slur. And our society remains imperfect. But the idea that people should lose their jobs because they say something offensive is profoundly un-American as well as unfair. The overwhelming majority of Americans despise racism while also rejecting the idea that those who utter the wrong word must be subjected to Cultural Revolution-style struggle sessions and then still be canceled.
Whether or not you’re a fan of Wallen or country music, the fact that he’s still standing despite the concerted attempts to finish him is worth cheering.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS.org.
Twitter: @jonathans_tobin