Morgan Wallen’s concert on Sunday night was not canceled because he was too drunk to perform, the head of his record label insisted Tuesday.
Seth England, CEO of Big Loud, said a venue security guard “made up an entire story that was nowhere close to true.”
After sets by HARDY, Ernest and Bailey Zimmerman, fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi were told that Wallen had lost his voice and would be unable to perform.
But, in a video posted on TikTok, a security guard from Best Crowd Management is heard telling fans the reason for the cancellation was “bull crap” and, in fact, Wallen was drunk and taken away by ambulance.
Best Crowd Management issued a statement on social media insisting its employee “made false claims as it related to last night’s Morgan Wallen concert and we do not stand behind the detail in his statement.”
In an Instagram Story, England thanked the company for “correcting your employee” and said “every detail” of the security guard’s comment was false. “Laughable what some people will just say for a reaction,” he wrote.
Wallen took to social media to explain that he started losing his voice the previous night but thought he would be able to sing on Sunday. “It kills me to deliver this so close to showtime, but my voice is shot and I am unable to sing,” he wrote.
The country star rescheduled more shows this week, citing “doctor-ordered vocal rest.”
Wallen was arrested in 2020 for public intoxication and disordely conduct in Nashville. According to a police report, officers determined he was “a danger to himself and the public.” Later that year, he lost his spot as musical guest on SNL after he was caught on camera partying and flouting public health protocols related to COVID-19. “I have some growing up to do,” he told fans at the time.
In 2021, Wallen said he was “on hour 72 of a bender” when he was caught on camera using a racist slur. He apologized several times and blamed his behaviour on being “clearly drunk."