Morgan Wallen and Jimmie Allen.Photo: David Lehr
Moving on?
Jimmie Allenwas among the artists joining Morgan Wallen on stage at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday — night one of Wallen’s three-night stand at Music City’s largest indoor venue. Allen’s surprise appearance comes approximately 13 months after Wallen was caught on video drunk andusing a racial slur.
It’s the first time the men have shared the stage for a performance since the February 2021 controversy — but it wasn’t shocking. Allen has long said he wanted to help Wallen understand the gravity of his word choice.
In July, he toldGood Morning America’s Michael Strahan that hechecked into a rehabilitation centerafter the incident and has since eased back into his public life.
“If we want to make the world a better place, we have to do the work, and the work is putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations,” Allen said. “When Morgan said what he said, I had two choices: I could yell at him and bash at him on social media, or I could take some time and really process the whole thing, and look at who Morgan is, look at Morgan’s state of mind when he said that, look at Morgan’s history.”
Allen said he wanted to help Wallen understand why what he said was offensive — although he wasn’t personally alarmed, he reached out, and the men talked daily with Allen sharing his perspective. The singer explained that the frequent use of the slur in some music and movies means it is “subconsciously embedded” in people’s minds.
“True, you know, you shouldn’t say it,” Allen said. “But at the same time, just because I don’t agree with what he said doesn’t mean I should banish him.”
Morgan Wallen.Ethan Miller/Getty
“When I started this album, I was a kid. By the time I put it out, I was a father,” said Wallen, dad to 20-month-old son Indigo Wilder with ex-girlfriend KT Smith, in 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.”
It’s a sentiment to which Allen can relate. Allen is the father of three, and when Wallen’s language landed him in trouble, Allen said he wanted to help for the sake of their children.
“How do we handlethis alcohol situation? How do we handle your outbursts? How do we handle the reckless behavior?” Allen said he asked Wallen, who made headlines in 2020for excessive public intoxication. “There’s so many (more) things than just the N-word, and I feel like everyone was just focused on that. This is a guy, a fellow country artist, that we’ve seen struggling for years. And no one cared until he said the N-word. He’s been a person the whole time, with a problem.”
source: people.com
