Morgan Wallen performed at a charity event’s afterparty on Monday for his second performance since he was caught yelling the N-word on video in late January.
He sang at the afterparty of the inaugural Brett Boyer Foundation Invitational, where earlier in the day at Marshwood Club in Georgia, Wallen participated in a charity golf tournament with fellow country singer Luke Bryan. In addition to his Hot Country Songs chart-topper “Whiskey Glasses” and other hits, the embattled country star also performed the unreleased track “Thought You Should Know,” which he teased on Instagram last month. In the song — which Miranda Lambert revealed in the comments section of his IGTV clip that she and Nicolle Galyon co-wrote — Wallen updates his mom on his life and questions the “bad decisions” he’s made.
The Bright for Brett Foundation organized the charity event, where Bryan’s wife Carol serves on the board alongside her brother, Bo Boyer, and his wife Ellen, who respectively serve as vice president and president. The foundation is dedicated to their late daughter and raising awareness about congenital heart disease and Down syndrome.
Wallen’s recent charity performance follows a stint at Kid Rock‘s Nashville honky tonk in late May, which marked his first live performance since he was caught yelling the racial slur and other expletives on video earlier this year.
His use of the racial slur caused iHeartMedia, Entercom and more to pull Wallen’s music from hundreds of radio stations; streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music to remove him from their curated playlists; Big Loud Records to suspend his recording contract “indefinitely”; WME to drop him from its roster; and the Academy of Country Music to halt his potential involvement and eligibility at the ACM Awards.
Last month, the Country Music Association’s board of directors opened up about Wallen’s eligibility for the 55th annual CMA Awards in November. The ruling declared he will be eligible in categories that honor artistic works (single, song, album, musical event, and music video of the year), “so as not to limit opportunity for other credited collaborators,” in the words of the CMA. But he won’t be eligible in individual artist categories (entertainer and male vocalist of the year).
The performances seem to contradict what the country singer said in an April 13-dated statement about not hitting the stage this summer — though he specifically ruled out tour dates and festivals in the message, not all performing. His handwritten note explained how Wallen has spent the past few months out of the spotlight to reflect on his various misdeeds and will use the rest of the year to continue to work on himself. The announcement also confirmed that Wallen would no longer accompany Bryan on the Proud to Be Right Here Tour slated to kick off this summer, nor would he headline country music festivals such as the Kicker Country Stampede in Kansas and Country Jam USA in Wisconsin as originally announced.
