Washington [US], February 8 (ANI): DJ Diplo, who headlined the pre-Super Bowl LV party in Florida, chose to play a song by the country music star Morgan Wallen, who has been dropped by his record label and other organisations over a video featuring him using a racial slur.
Amid the fallout over the controversial singer’s use of the racial slur, the 42-year-old DJ played Wallen’s hit ‘Heartless’, his collaboration with the country singer, reported US Weekly.
A video posted by TMZ on Sunday, showed the DJ Diplo spinning the 27-year-old singer’s track during a Super Bowl LV party in Florida. Several maskless audience members raised their hands and could be seen singing along as the song played at about 1 am at the WTR Tampa Pool party.
However, Diplo isn’t the only one still playing Wallen’s music. Despite being dropped from several radio stations’ playlists, Wallen’s latest release ‘Dangerous: The Double Album’, is the first country album to spend its first four weeks at the No. 1 slot on the charts since Shania Twain’s ‘Up’.
Wallen came under fire on February 2 after a video surfaced of him saying the N-word during a night out in Nashville. The actions against the 27-year-old singer have been swift, with his booking agency WME dropping him.
Apart from this, the singer’s contract with the label Big Loud has also been suspended indefinitely. Wallen, whose new track ‘Dangerous: The Double Album’ is about to have a fourth week at the top of the charts, saw his music being taken down from major radio networks and streaming service playlists within hours of the video being published on TMZ last week.
Cumulus, which is powerful in the country radio sphere, sent out a directive to the program directors of all of its 400-plus stations with the header “MORGAN WALLEN — EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.”
The message read, “Team, unfortunately, country music star Morgan Wallen was captured on video Sunday evening using a racial slur. Effective immediately we request that all of Morgan Wallen’s music be removed from our playlists without exception. More to follow.”
Apart from these, radio giants like iHeartMedia and Entercom soon followed suit, as did the country music television network CMT. His music has also been pulled from the satellite service SiriusXM and the streaming service Pandora, as well as being removed from any visible spots on Spotify and Apple Music.
Wallen issued a statement on Tuesday night after TMZ first reported the incident, saying, “I am embarrassed and sorry. I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.”
Wallen has a history of having used the N-word on social media, quoting rap lyrics. In 2012, he tweeted a lyric by rapper Meek Mill, “I burn bread I ain’t talkin toast n—.” (That tweet was deleted from Wallen’s account on Wednesday morning.) (ANI)