Morgan Wallen's CMAs Absence Has Fans Melting Down

While country singer Morgan Wallen might've made a mark at the 2020 Country Music Association Awards for his win as New Artist of the Year, his absence at this year's ceremony, which took place on November 10, possibly outweighed the impact of his previous win. The reason for the Wallen-shaped hole at the 2021 CMAs was a culmination of well-documented controversies the musician found himself embroiled in throughout 2020 and up until the beginning of this year.

Among his standouts of controversial moments are an arrest for disorderly conduct at a Nashville bar owned by Kid Rock during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, a canceled appearance on "Saturday Night Live" after failing to quarantine in order to perform, and yelling racist slurs while intoxicated. In response, a slew of country music award shows, including the CMA Awards and the American Music Awards, banned him from attending this year.

Despite the ban, however, Wallen is still up for Album of the Year for his 2021 release "Dangerous: The Double Album" — a move which has seemingly sent mixed messages about what the genre will and will not tolerate when it comes to its artists. And despite the CMA Awards taking a hard line at disallowing Wallen to attend this year's event, it seems fans are still stewing over the decision.

Predictably, Morgan Wallen fans came out in droves on social media to protest the ban the 2021 CMA Awards placed on the country star for this year's ceremonies. One Twitter user referenced Wallen's past apologies for his actions (which Wallen indeed made for each respective incident throughout 2020 and 2021), writing, "not one person performing or getting awards is perfect. @MorganWallen deserved to be there tonight! #FreeMorganWallen." Another user opined that if Wallen were allowed to attend, "he would be CLEANING UP"; others expressed glee over the idea of Wallen potentially winning for best album of the year, despite being prohibited from accepting the award on stage.

Despite outcries from Wallen fans that the singer deserved to be there, imperfections and all, it's notable that even with his apologies, Wallen has apparently failed to make good on his word. Though Wallen's response in particular to the most recent recorded incident in February – yelling slurs like the N-word while intoxicated — included a promise to donate $500,000 to Black non-profit organizations and charities, an update published by Rolling Stone in September found Wallen had yet to follow through.